A particle detector for educational purposes designed, build, tested by high-school teachers & students (& physicists)

Objectives Experimental research: Not just data analysis STEM education: physics & electronics & programming Engage the students in the scientific process Interdisciplinary working group A lot of detector R&D at IFAE, a lot of interaction with engineers. Experiments do not build themselves Different skills that at the level of high-school education seems to be separated, but is interlinked in everyday research. Share how we do science. Not only the results of research. Not just on-way from the research centre to the students. Responsible Research & Innovation.

The project Design a particle detector versatile, modular Testing and characterisation by students Teachers involvement in the process Education & Outreach material Analysis proposed & performed by students Simple, robust, versatile,….particle detector. Flexible 1. simplicity/robustness over precision 2. modular so that easily adaptable to new ideas 3. teachers and students should be able to do the mechanical assembly 4. safe e.g. in respect of HV 5. illustrative design and not a black box 6. relative cheap in construction (<=2000 Euro) and operation (<=100 Euro per month) 7. suitable for various measurements (alpha, beta, gamma, cosmics) Treball de Recerca: high-school students need to do a research work, some do it with research centres. We are developing pTdRs that are focused on building and testing particle detectors. High-school & Grad students stays at IFAE during the summer: we link the projects to the development of the detector Working groups with teachers so they own the process and we gain experience. We develop outreach, and education material for the web. As well as documenting the process.

The Detector Multi-Wire Proportional Counter (MWPC) Ad-hoc electronics Shaper and amplification Arduino Electronics Triggering, ADC,Reconstruction Software Requirements: 8. position resolution 1-2 mm, moderate energy resolution 9. should provide at least 3 x and 3 y coordinates 10. no dead space between wire layers 11. sensitive area between 100x100 mm2 and 200x200 mm2 12. simple electronics included, few channels, cost-effective 13. data provided per event: position and deposited charge per wire layer, event time 14. complete software should run on Raspberry computer First prototype 2 frames Second prototype 6 frames Base material for the frames G10/FR4 Base material for the Caps: acrylic is considered due to its transparency. 180x180 mm2 and the height will be 5 mm stainless steel wires with a diameter of 30 um 3 mm the baseline choice corresponding to about 34 wires to be installed per frame. spatial resolution of below 2 mm Anode frames are rotated 90 degrees with respect to one another For the baseline detector 6 anode wire frames, 3 for each view, are considered MWPC detectors are and were operated with a wide range of gas mixtures. The most interesting ones for an outreach detector are the mixtures consisting of 70 to 90% of Ar and 10 to 30% of CO2 due to cost considerations. These gas mixtures are widely available since they are used also for soldering. The gas quality of these soldering gas mixtures are sufficient for outreach.

The Detector Multi-Wire Proportional Counter (MWPC) Ad-hoc electronics Shaper and amplification Arduino Electronics Triggering, ADC,Reconstruction Software Requirements: 8. position resolution 1-2 mm, moderate energy resolution 9. should provide at least 3 x and 3 y coordinates 10. no dead space between wire layers 11. sensitive area between 100x100 mm2 and 200x200 mm2 12. simple electronics included, few channels, cost-effective 13. data provided per event: position and deposited charge per wire layer, event time 14. complete software should run on Raspberry computer First prototype 2 frames Second prototype 6 frames Base material for the frames G10/FR4 Base material for the Caps: acrylic is considered due to its transparency. 180x180 mm2 and the height will be 5 mm stainless steel wires with a diameter of 30 um 3 mm the baseline choice corresponding to about 34 wires to be installed per frame. spatial resolution of below 2 mm MWPC detectors are and were operated with a wide range of gas mixtures. The most interesting ones for an outreach detector are the mixtures consisting of 70 to 90% of Ar and 10 to 30% of CO2 due to cost considerations. These gas mixtures are widely available since they are used also for soldering. The gas quality of these soldering gas mixtures are sufficient for outreach.

Measurements Cosmic rays rate & variations, angular distributions, Fundamental Physics with Gammas, Alphas, & Betas spectrum, Bragg peak, Landau Distribution, tracks, energy deposition Tomography,…. What kind of experiments? magnets? Tomography?

Scope R&D at IFAE’s labs with students Experiments in schools by teachers & students Outreach Activities in Science fairs by researchers DETECTA anual conference all together *At the moment students come periodically to participate in the design and construction phase. In June/July Students will be characterising and testing the first prototype. *At schools: Use in the school’s lab. Possibility to ensamble the kits. *better outreach possibilities than the cloud chamber. *Possibility of adding lead readout for an installation *Annual Conference: Presentations of the research done. Presentation experiment proposals for future use of the detector.

Thank you! Sebastián Grinschpun Communication and Public Relations Manager Institut de Fisica d’Altes Energies (IFAE) sgrinschpun@ifae.es