Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Introduction
- 1 Interactions of particles and radiation with matter
- 2 Characteristic properties of detectors
- 3 Units of radiation measurements and radiation sources
- 4 Accelerators
- 5 Main physical phenomena used for particle detection and basic counter types
- 6 Historical track detectors
- 7 Track detectors
- 8 Calorimetry
- 9 Particle identification
- 10 Neutrino detectors
- 11 Momentum measurement and muon detection
- 12 Ageing and radiation effects
- 13 Example of a general-purpose detector: Belle
- 14 Electronics
- 15 Data analysis
- 16 Applications of particle detectors outside particle physics
- Résumé
- 17 Glossary
- 18 Solutions
- Appendix 1 Table of fundamental physical constants
- Appendix 2 Definition and conversion of physical units
- Appendix 3 Properties of pure and composite materials
- Appendix 4 Monte Carlo event generators
- Appendix 5 Decay-level schemes
- Index
16 - Applications of particle detectors outside particle physics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Introduction
- 1 Interactions of particles and radiation with matter
- 2 Characteristic properties of detectors
- 3 Units of radiation measurements and radiation sources
- 4 Accelerators
- 5 Main physical phenomena used for particle detection and basic counter types
- 6 Historical track detectors
- 7 Track detectors
- 8 Calorimetry
- 9 Particle identification
- 10 Neutrino detectors
- 11 Momentum measurement and muon detection
- 12 Ageing and radiation effects
- 13 Example of a general-purpose detector: Belle
- 14 Electronics
- 15 Data analysis
- 16 Applications of particle detectors outside particle physics
- Résumé
- 17 Glossary
- 18 Solutions
- Appendix 1 Table of fundamental physical constants
- Appendix 2 Definition and conversion of physical units
- Appendix 3 Properties of pure and composite materials
- Appendix 4 Monte Carlo event generators
- Appendix 5 Decay-level schemes
- Index
Summary
There are no such things as applied sciences, only applications of science.
Louis PasteurThere is a large number of applications for radiation detectors. They cover the field from medicine to space experiments, high energy physics and archaeology [1–4].
In medicine and, in particular, in nuclear medicine, imaging devices are usually employed where the size and function of the inner organs can be determined, e.g. by registering γ rays from radioactive tracers introduced into the body.
In geophysics it is possible to search for minerals by means of natural and induced γ radioactivity.
In space experiments one is frequently concerned with measuring solar and galactic particles and γ rays. In particular, the scanning of the radiation belts of the Earth (Van Allen belts) is of great importance for manned space missions. Many open questions of astrophysical interest can only be answered by experiments in space.
In the field of nuclear physics, methods of α-, β- and γ-ray spectroscopy with semiconductor detectors and scintillation counters are dominant [5]. High energy and cosmic-ray physics are the main fields of application of particle detectors [6–11]. On the one hand, one explores elementary particles down to dimensions of 10-17 cm, and on the other, one tries by the measurement of PeV γ rays (1015 eV) to obtain information on the sources of cosmic rays.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Particle Detectors , pp. 466 - 509Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008