Detector Physics

Professor Klaus Honscheid
Department of Physics
The Ohio State University

This course is an introduction to the physics of particle detectors. We will focus on both the fundamental concepts and the techniques necessary to understand detectors not only in nuclear and particle physics experiments but also in astronomy, astroparticle physics and medical imaging.

Course Outline
The course will be taught at a level appropriate for advanced undergraduate students and graduate students who are working (or are expecting to work) in an experimental research group.
1) Radiation, Radiation Sources
2) Passage of Radiation Through Matter
3) Non-destructive measurements: This includes time, velocity, energy loss and position measurements. We will discuss photo multipliers, scintillators, Cerenkov detectors, transition radiation, drift chambers and silicon detectors.
4) Destructive measurements: Radiation and energy measurements
5) Data analysis: Introduction to probability and statistics for experimentalists. Monte Carlo methods.
6) Electronics and Data Acquisition
7) Examples from particle and nuclear physics, medical imaging and astronomy.

General course information, announcements, recommended literature, etc.

Homework