MIT physicists have developed a $ 100 portable muon detector

Scientific equipment designed to work with the elements of the microworld is usually complex and expensive. Long gone are the days when a scientist with the help of a self-made apparatus of metal, wood and string could make a fundamental discovery. Over the creation of some systems, not even entire institutions, but countries, as was the case with the Large Hadron Collider, are working.

The demand for scientific equipment is growing as researchers conduct more and more experiments, and the experiments themselves become more difficult. This is true for all areas of science, including particle physics. The Earth's atmosphere permeates high-energy cosmic radiation emitted by distant Supernova and other astrophysical objects. When this radiation penetrates the planet's atmosphere, high-energy particles disintegrate into muons - charged microparticles whose mass slightly exceeds the mass of an electron.

There are muons of a split second, but they can still be detected. Some of them can pass through rocks or ice, plunging to a depth of several kilometers.
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Observing these particles gives science a lot. But physicists are far from being everywhere and do not always have the opportunity to conduct observation. The fact is that traditional detectors are very bulky and it is simply impossible to transport them. This problem was tried to solve by scientists from MIT, who created a portable detector of muons. The device consists of ordinary electronic components. When the muon passes through the apparatus, it is activated. The cost of the system is only $ 100, which is available not only to institutes, but also to individual teachers or even students.

It all started with an idea that emerged from the MIT graduate student, who proposed creating a relatively simple and cheap device for detecting muons. Spencer Axan (Spencer Axan), the so-called graduate student, found like-minded people and began to implement the project, called CosmicWatch. As soon as the detector was ready, the project participants created a website, where instructions for creating such a device were posted. This resource shows all the components of the gadget, plus there is detailed information on assembling the system, its calibration and operation. According to the calculations of the authors of the project, it may take about four hours to assemble the device from an ordinary person who is not very familiar with electronics.

A detector of this type can detect muons in almost any place, even underground, even in the stratosphere. The project team has already built about 100 detectors, which were provided to schools and colleges. In addition, the authors of the idea use them for their own purposes, observing muons. This is done not only in the laboratory, but also, for example, at the subway station. In particular, the students tested the device in the metro of Boston. The goal of underground monitoring is to see how deeply particles can penetrate the earth.

Initially, Aksani wanted to create a miniature system that would serve as an auxiliary tool for the IceCube - a huge detector hidden under the ice at the South Pole. Then colleagues advised a graduate student to develop a miniature muon detector that could be used as an element of the network of a larger detector. That is, it was about creating a composite detector of small elements.



The main working part of the particle detector is a photomultiplier. This is usually a fairly massive element that is not very suitable for a portable device. Stationary detectors require a large amount of energy, so they need batteries, also rather big ones. Aksani had to solve this problem. The third problem is the price. As mentioned above, the cost of scientific equipment is usually high, so for the mass distribution of devices of this kind of devices they should not be too expensive.

A graduate student turned to his colleagues for help, and together they managed to solve all three problems. Instead of the usual photomultiplier in the device, the silicon SensL was used; the scientists took the Arduino Nano as a control unit. The body was printed on a 3D printer. A custom card was also created where all the electronic components are located. The dimensions of the resulting device did not exceed the size of a mobile phone.

Sets of parts were provided to students of the University of Warsaw, as well as students from other institutes and universities in other countries of the world.

The results of the observations were very interesting. As it turned out, on the surface of the earth, at sea level, muons are recorded every two seconds. In the plane - 50 times more often. Under the ground - much less. Aksani's colleagues are now considering the possibility of creating a detector for a suborbital rocket.

Another way to use miniature detectors is to create a system for muon tomography. This technology is used to study the material surrounding the detector. For example, it may be rock or building materials (as is the case with the pyramid of Cheops ).

Perhaps pocket muon detectors can be used to map premises or cavities in rocks. If you think well, then there are quite a few ways to apply this technology. And the base is a pocket muon detector developed by a graduate student from MTI.