Cherenkov detector
Quick Summary
A Cherenkov detector is a device used to detect charged subatomic particles moving at high velocities. It works by sensing Cherenkov light, which is emitted when a charged particle travels through a transparent medium faster than the speed of light in that medium. This phenomenon is analogous to a sonic boom created by an airplane exceeding the speed of sound.12
While no particle can exceed the speed of light in a vacuum, they can exceed it in a medium with a refractive index n, where the particle's velocity v is greater than c/n. This effect is often observed as a faint blue glow in the water surrounding nuclear reactors, caused by electrons moving faster than light in water. Cherenkov detectors are sensitive to this light, which is emitted in a forward-directed cone.21
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- Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov
…of the Cherenkov counter, or Cherenkov detector, that later was used extensively in experimental nuclear and particle physics. Cherenkov continued to do research in nuclear and cosmic-ray physics at the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute. Cherenkov was elected to the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences as a corresponding (1964) and subsequently full…
Read More…of the Cherenkov counter, or Cherenkov detector, that later was used extensively in experimental nuclear and particle physics. Cherenkov continued to do research in nuclear and cosmic-ray physics at the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute. Cherenkov was elected to the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences as a corresponding (1964) and subsequently full…
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radiation measurementCherenkov detectorsCherenkov light is a consequence of the motion of a charged particle with a speed that is greater than the speed of light in the same medium. No particle can exceed the speed of light in a vacuum (c), but in materials with…
Read MoreCherenkov light is a consequence of the motion of a charged particle with a speed that is greater than the speed of light in the same medium. No particle can exceed the speed of light in a vacuum (c), but in materials with…
Read More