PHYS 575A, B, C - Autumn 2015 - Wilkes

Radiation and Detectors  

Last updated:    8/2/15
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First meeting of this class is Thursday, October 1, 2015, in room A-114.
Thereafter we meet:
Every Tuesday: 2 hrs lecture (in A-11); 
Lab Thursdays: 4 hrs lab (in B-260 - only on dates shown below; dates to be confirmed in class)

Textbook: Knoll, Glenn F., Radiation Detection and Measurement, Wiley, 4th ed., 2012 (3rd ed., 2000 is OK)
(Will also be used in PHYS 576, next term)

Readings in Knoll: read chapters in the order shown.
In some cases, the textbook goes into more detail than we need for this class; when more than 2 chapters are assigned for one class session, you should review the material covered but do not need to read carefully. (You will need to review some of these sections more carefully in PHYS 576)

Preliminary: topics and lab dates may be changed before class begins - check again in late September
week date day topic text
1 10/1/15 Tues Introduction, review of basics, radioactivity, units for radiation and dosimetry Ch. 1, notes
2 10/6/15 Tues Radioactive sources; decay processes; Ch. 1, notes
3 10/13/15 Tues Photomultiplier tubes and scintillation counters; Counting statistics Chs. 3, 8, 9 (I-V)
3 10/15/15
 Thurs
 LAB: Room B248    Scopes, fast pulses; PMTs and scintillation counters; standard electronics modules Chs. 4, 9, 16, 17
4 10/20/15 Tues Overview of charged particle detectors
 Ch. 4
4
 10/22/15
 Thurs LAB: Room B248   Coincidence techniques; nanosec time measurement, energy from pulse area   Chs. 17, 18
5 10/27/15 Tues  Interaction of charged particles and photons with matter Ch. 2
6
 11/3/15 Tues
 Other photodetectors; gas and solid-state detectors Chs. 5, 6, 7
Chs. 11, 12, 13
7 11/10/15 Tues Detecting neutral particles; Data acquisition methods Ch. 14, 15, 18
8 11/17/15 Tues Cherenkov detectors; Case studies: neutrino detectors (Super-K) Ch. 19, Notes
9 11/24/15 Tues Case studies: classic detectors (cloud and bubble chambers, nuclear emulsion), high energy accelerators
 Ch. 19
10 12/1/15 Tues Case studies: contemporary leading-edge detectors (ATLAS, Auger) Notes
11
 12/8/15
 Tues Student presentations
 -
11
 12/10/15
 Thurs
 LAB: Room B248    Cosmic ray muon detector     Chs. 18, 20