DIY Silicon Photodiode Particle Detector directly from CERN

Silicon detectors are widely used in particle and nuclear physics for measuring ionizing radiation. This Do-It-Yourself project allows making a low-cost particle detector from scratch using silicon photodiodes. It can distinguish different particle types (alpha particles and electrons) and measures their energy between 33 keV and 8 MeV. The detector must be shielded from light and is, therefore, best mounted inside your favorite candy tin box. The signal output can be directly connected with microphone or headset inputs of regular laptops and smartphones.

The DIY particle detector is open source science hardware, released under the CERN open hardware license. Construction details and software for undertaking measurements can be found on the corresponding project website. The circuit board and electronic parts (~20 EUR) can be easily procured via kitspace, an open hardware design repository.

DIY Silicon Photodiode Particle Detector directly from CERN – [Link]

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