Cientistas criam sensores ultrafinos para detectar partículas de alta energia com precisão

Scientists Create Ultrathin Sensors to Precisely Detect High-Energy Particles

Written by Romário Pereira de Carvalho

Published on 13/02/2025 at 16:31

Updated on 13/02/2025 at 16:41

Visão de perto de um SNSPD montado em uma placa de circuito impresso dentro do criostato no Fermilab Test Beam Facility.

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American Researchers Developed Ultrathin Sensors Capable of Identifying High-Energy Particles with Precision. This Innovation Could Transform Particle Physics and Other Scientific Areas!

Researchers from the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) made a breakthrough in detecting high-energy particles by adapting photon-detection nanowire sensors for the task of detecting high-speed particles with precision.

The achievement was made at the Test Beam Facility at Fermilab, one of the largest particle physics facilities in the world. This advancement could have significant implications for particle accelerators, which are fundamental systems for understanding the origin and components of the universe.

Particle accelerators are essential for studying subatomic particles created in high-energy collisions.

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What Are SNSPDs?

SNSPDs are high-sensitivity optical sensors based on superconducting nanowires. Their operation is simple yet effective: when a photon is absorbed by the nanowire, a small increase in the electrical charge of the material occurs, which is detected accurately.

This detection occurs at extremely low temperatures, allowing the superconductors to function.

This technology is highly efficient, enabling the detection of events that would be imperceptible to conventional detectors. With the proposed adaptation from the ANL researchers, SNSPDs could be used to detect high-energy particles, such as protons, with much greater precision.

Testing at Fermilab

The ANL team tested the SNSPDs in experiments conducted at Fermilab, where they provided 120 GeV protons, particles that are regularly supplied and commonly accelerated for use in particle accelerator experiments.

The researchers varied the thickness of the nanowires, using wires of different widths to test detection efficiency under diverse conditions.

The results were promising. Wires with 400 nanometers in width showed high efficiency in detecting high-energy protons. To give you an idea, the width of a human hair is about 10,000 nanometers, making the insulation of these sensors even more impressive.

The best configuration was achieved with wires of 250 nanometers, which proved ideal for this application.

Potential for the Future

The work conducted at Fermilab marks an important advancement, but it is just the beginning. According to Whitney Armstrong, one of the ANL physicists involved in the research, this was the first use of the technology, and the demonstration was crucial for future high-impact applications.

This is because SNSPDs can be used in different scenarios within particle physics, including in more advanced particle accelerators, such as those that use superconductors to accelerate particles to even greater speeds.

Additionally, SNSPDs may also be used in new facilities, such as the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), which is being built at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States.

In this accelerator, electrons will be used to bombard protons and atomic nuclei, and the detection of particles with high precision will be crucial for the success of the research.

With information from interesting engineering.

Scientists Create Ultrathin Sensors to Precisely Detect High-Energy Particles

American Researchers Developed Ultrathin Sensors Capable of Identifying High-Energy Particles with Precision. This Innovation Could Transform Particle Physics and Other Scientific Areas!

What Are SNSPDs?

Testing at Fermilab

Potential for the Future

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Scientists Create Ultrathin Sensors to Precisely Detect High-Energy Particles

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What Are SNSPDs?

Testing at Fermilab

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