Catalogue of Courses & Student Handbook - SUPA

Particle Physics
The SUPA Graduate School runs an extensive programme of Particle
Physics courses to provide new graduate students with the necessary
skills required to carry out research. The Particle Physics courses
are divided into categories corresponding to whether the student is
undertaking theoretical or experimental research, core lectures are
compulsory for first year students in both areas.
Theory Students are strongly recommended to attend all the
‘Common Core’ and ‘Theory Core’ courses. Experimentalists are strongly
recommended to attend all the ‘Common Core’ and ‘Experiment Core’
courses. Theory students are also welcome to attend courses in the
experiment core and vice versa. Students should discuss with their
supervisor which optional courses they should attend.
Semester 1
Accelerators (SUPAACC)
Lecturer: Dino Jaroszynski & Mark Wiggins
Institution: Strathclyde
Hours Equivalent Credit: 9
Assessment: Continuous Assessment
Experimental Core This course is crossed linked with the Nuclear
and Plasma Physics Theme
Course Description
The course will cover the following topics:
(i) overview and history of the accelerators and outlook for future
advances including the development of laser-driven accelerators,
(ii) accelerator applications including medical imaging, isotope
production and oncology, (iii) RF accelerating cavities including
waveguide propagation, superconducting cavities and power delivery,
(iv) beam line diagnostics for characterising beam parameters such as
charge, transverse profile, energy spread and emittance, (v) transverse
and longitudinal beam dynamics outlining beam parameters and
transport and the effect of beam quality on transport and focusing, (vi)
non-linear beam dynamics including resonances, betatron motion and
beam instabilities, (vii) electromagnetic radiation emitted by relativistic
charged particles due to their acceleration: synchrotron and betatron,
(viii) radiation damping and application of such radiation.
Detectors (SUPADET)
Lecturer: Stephan Eisenhardt, Richard Bates & Andrew Blue
Institution: Glasgow & Edinburgh
Hours Equivalent Credit: 16 (11 lectures, 1x2hr lab & 1x3hr Lab)
Assessment: Continuous assessment using problem sheets
Experimental Core
Course Description
The course will give a comprehensive view on the many techniques
and technologies utilised in the building of particle physics detectors.
The series of 11 hours of lectures is complemented by 5 hours of
practical sessions. In the first series of lectures, taught by Stephan
Eisenhardt, the students learn about classical detector technologies
and concepts that form the basis of the modern developments.
The principles of the interaction of radiation with matter are discussed.
From principles to state-of-the-art applications, the following
technologies are reviewed: gaseous tracking detectors, photon
detectors and calorimeters. The methods utilised for particle
identification as well as concepts to trigger on rare events are presented.
Finally, the students are introduced to how all these building blocks are
combined into modern layouts of particle physics detectors. The second
series of lectures, taught by Richard Bates, focuses entirely on the
physics and applications of Solid State Detectors. Their ever-increasing
use in particle physics detectors is motivated; their application in the
past, in the present and in the near future is reviewed. The fundamental
configurations and properties of semiconductors are introduced and
the process of signal formation in semiconductor detectors is discussed.
The properties of the microstrip detector are examined in detail as an
example of a detector type commonly used today. Radiation damage is
the most limiting effect to semiconductor detectors; its effects and cures
are presented. In the concluding lecture, Andrew Blue teaches about the
fabrication of semiconductors. The main production techniques and their
limitations are presented including lithography, additive and subtractive
processes, etching, SiO2 layers and doping. Finally, the semiconductor
processing facilities at the Glasgow Electrical Engineering Department
are outlined. A two-hour session taking place in a laboratory at
Edinburgh will demonstrate a state-of-the-art application of novel photon
detectors on the test bench. One focus will be on the integration of
control, data acquisition and logging into an integrated test system using
Labview. In addition the basics of signal transmission, interfacing kit of
hardware and safety when working with high voltages and radioactive
sources will be covered. The second laboratory session held in Glasgow
will last 3 hours. The session will initially explore the electrical behaviour
of silicon detectors. After this the response of the detector to an IR
light pulse as a function of detector bias voltage will be examined.
Two different detector designs will be used to allow the student to
measure the different characteristics of these devices. The laboratory
will give the student the opportunity to measure the type of silicon
detectors that are discussed in detail in the second part of the lecture
course. The course is self-contained and requires no prior knowledge
of the field. Students will be assessed using problem sheets.
Particle Physics
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