Iowa QuarkNet Center
Submitted by kcecire
on Friday, September 13, 2013 - 10:16
The Iowa QuarkNet Center is a collaboration of the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and Iowa physics teachers to improve education and bring students into particle physics research.
Description
Iowa physicist, students, and teachers at the frontier of particle physics.
2016 The University of Iowa Quarknet Annual Report
During the summer of 2016, three teachers and six students from Bettendorf High School engaged in research for the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) forward calorimeter group at The University of Iowa. This team of researchers focused on creating and testing materials for use in the forward calorimeters in CMS at The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The research consisted of creating and testing materials for use in the high radiation regions of CMS.
The team began by evaporating organic-fluorescent compounds on borosilicate plates in an attempt to create plates that pumped visible light when activated by an ultraviolet (UV) LASER. The students evaporated the dyes in solvents and then annealed them in an oven in the absence of oxygen to make crystals that would not only fluoresce but conduct the light of fluorescence to the edges of the plates. The team also honed their skills in testing the plates using an oscilloscope and Photomultiplier Tube (PMT).
After the students worked on the evaporated plates, they worked on creating epoxy plates laced with fluorescent chemicals. In an attempt to make radiation hard plates of fluorescent materials, the students worked with a radiation hard epoxy and their fluorescent dyes. An attempt was made to create radiation hard plates of epoxy that would compare with the current plastic plates used in the Electromagnetic Hadron (HE) forward calorimeter. The students dissolved the dyes in the epoxy and made tiles that were tested with the UV LASER and oscilloscope. Data was taken and analyzed in reports.
During the week of July 25-29, twenty-six teachers from all over the state of Iowa attended an institute for particle physics in high schools. They spent the week studying The Standard Model, making an audio transducer to take back to their schools, touring Fermilab, working through the Quarknet activities with 2 Quarknet presenters, attended lectures from educational and physics professors and had a live online conversation with 2 researchers at CERN.
2016 Iowa CMS Implementation Plans
As you consider implementation plans, consider how you might use the materials presented in this CMS Data Workshop in your classroom in one or more of the following areas.
- Using some of the data activities (Rolling with Rutherford, Z-Mass, CMS Data Express, CMS Masterclass, CMS e-Lab) directly or modified in your classroom
- Sharing current particle physics research and/or how Physicists use evidence to justify their results
- As materials for extention, Science Clubs, Science Fairs, or other activities
- All of the other ideas we might not have considered
Iowa CMS Data Workshop 2016
July 28-29, 2016
Objectives
Participating teachers will:
- Apply classical physics principles to reduce or explain the observations in data investigations.
- Identify and describe ways that data are organized for determining any patterns that may exist in the data.
- Create, organize and interpret data plots; make claims based on evidence and provide explanations; identify data limitations.
- Develop a plan for taking students from their current level of data use to subsequent levels using activities and/or ideas from the workshop.
We will also provide opportunities to engage in critical dialogue among teaching colleagues about what they learn in the workshop.
Agenda
Times and specific activities are subject to adjustment.
Thursday 28 July08:00 Coffee, Registration, and 08:30 Objectives/Overview/Data Porfolio 09:00 Level 1 Data Portfolio Activities 11:00 Lunch 12:00 Level 2 Data Portfolio Activity: 13:00 Level 2 Data Portfolio Activitiy: 15:00 Reflections on Activities, 15:30 QN Teacher Survey 16:00 End of Day |
Friday 29 July08:00 Recap of Yesterday/Plan for Today 08:30 Level 2 Data Portfolio Activitiy: 09:00 CMS Virtual Tour (sharp start time) 10:00 Finish CMS Masterclass Measurement, 11:00 Level 3 Data Portfolio Activitiy Exploration: 11:45 Implementation Plans (Post to website) 12:30 Review of Objectives/Evaluation 13:00 Close
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Resources |
Contacts |
Quartz Plate Preparation
3D Printing: The Beginner's Guide
2015 Annual Report: The University of Iowa
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Yasar Onel
Associate Professors:
Dr. Jane Nachman
Technicians:
Dr. Burak Bilki, Dr. James Wetzel
Teacher\Mentors:
Peter G. Bruecken, Michael Grannen and Moira Truesdell
Students:
Nick Arevelo, William Fawcett, Andrew Haffarnan, Bridget Quesnell, Sam Snow and Archie Weindruch
During the summer of 2015, The University of Iowa involved six students from Bettendorf High School and 3 teachers in research activities. The work was directed by our Principal investigator, Dr. Yasar Onel and mentored by three of the teachers, Peter Bruecken, Michael Grannen and Moira Truesdell. The summer activities focused two projects: Preparing scintillating plates for CERN test beam and building 100 models of CMS. These projects were extensions from the 2014 summer work.
Activity 1: Scintillating plates:
After a successful summer of 2014, the team continued work by refining our procedure and using a more standard test plate. The work involved preparing 5 test plates for a beam at CERN. Unlike last year, we used a different configuration of test plate to get more comparable results. The tests last year proved promising but needed to be refined further for comparison. The group prepared 5 plates for the beam and sent them to CERN for testing.
Activity 2: Building a demonstration model of CMS:
After our 2014 contribution to creating a 3D-printed model of CMS, an order for 100 copies of said model were ordered. Our group worked on printing and constructing the models for delivery. They also refined the mobile application, which would simulate a collision on a mobile application while observing the actual model. The application focused on using a cosmic ray to activate a simulation of a collision at CERN. The students produced
Three of the students aided a graduate student in executing his grant to build a demonstration model of The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) at CERN. The students drew parts in a proprietary program for a 3D printer, programmed Arduino® controller boards and helped design the assembly of the printer. The task consisted of making a 1/160 scale drawing of each functional part of CMS and printing the separate parts on the 3D printer. The students then programmed the controller boards to simulate, using lights, the particle interactions in the model when a cosmic ray triggered an event. The students programmed a Silicon Photomultiplier board to sense the presence of a cosmic ray and trigger a string of interactions in the model. Later, an app for mobile devices would enhance the event for observers of the model. The students drew and printed many parts for the demonstration as well as programmed some of the light boards for the model.
U of I Quarknet 2014: Scintillation Deposition
John Guhin (Bettendorf High School), Lindsay Matthews (Bettendorf High School), Nathaniel Perk (Bettendorf High School), Peter Bruecken (Bettendorf High School), Moira Truesdell (Bettendorf High School), Yasar Onel (University of Iowa)
Purpose:
The calorimeters at The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) at the Large Hadron Calorimeter (LHC) at CERN have had a large exposure to radiation with considerable damage to them. They need to be replaced by more robust radiation hard materials that still maintain a high sensitivity to particle detection. We are testing materials that could replace the current materials that would be more robust to radiation damage while maintaining sensitivity to particle presence.
To this end, we are depositing organic scintillating materials on Quartz plates in an attempt to create materials that are radiation hard yet maintain sensitivity to passage of particles.
Method:
Quartz plates have been shown to be one of the few radiation hard transparent materials, especially to Ultraviolet radiation (UV). When high-energy particles pass through Quartz, they can create Cherenkov radiation in the violet-color range. This radiation is very weak compared to some organic substances that fluoresce light. To combine the sensitivity of the organic substances along with the transparency and radiation hardness of quartz, we will attempt to coat the quartz plates with the organic materials to attain the best of both.
Vacuum deposition was used to coat the quartz plates with the organic scintillation chemicals. Vacuum deposition was chosen because it would adhere the substances to the surface of the Quartz plates somewhat evenly. The plates were then annealed in the absence of oxygen to make the depositions more transparent. Once the organic scintillation material was fixed between two plates, wave-shifting fibers were optically coupled to the quartz plates to pick up the light created by the scintillation. The light from these fibers would then be measured by a photodetector and translated into data to be compared.
Four materials were slated to be tested this way: Naphthalene, Stilbene, Anthracene and P-terphenyl (PTP). All of these substances are known to scintillate with UV radiation. PTP has been used for this before so it was a standard to compare the others against. Each was tested for workability, sensitivity and compatibility with the Quartz plates.
Procedure:
The materials used in the vacuum chamber were one 10 cm x 10 cm x 0.1 cm and two 5 cm x 10 cm x 0.1 cm plates along with an Aluminum “roof” to hold them above a glass cylinder with a Tantalum “boat”. The boat was suspended below the plates by two electrodes. A high current could pass through the boat in order to heat it up.
Prior to evaporating the chemicals, the vacuum must be pumped down to at least 10-6 torr. In order to achieve this very low pressure, everything was cleaned (with acetone while wearing gloves) of all fingerprints and dust to prevent outgassing. All components in the setup were also made of materials that did not outgas. After everything was cleaned, the vacuum pump was pumped down to at least 10-6 torr before heating up the boat to begin plating.
The materials were heated up by a current passing through the Tantalum boat. The contents were heated up slowly, using a rheostat to adjust the current, to the melting temperature. Using the Aluminum stand to hold up the panes, the panes were then coated by the evaporating chemical. The Aluminum roof and the glass cylinder were used to prevent the bell jar from being deposited with the chemical.
After plating was complete, the plates had a cloudy look. The material needed to be crystallized in order to readily pass light through them. The plates were removed and taped together with Kapton® high-temp tape, making sure to have the scintillation chemicals in between them and a gap between the half-plates that is large enough to fit an optical fiber. The tape was also put over the gap to prevent the chemicals from evaporating from the plates.
The plates were then placed in a chamber of an air-tight oven. The chamber was evacuated, then filled with nitrogen to prevent oxidation. The chamber was slowly heated up to the chemical’s melting point and slowly cooled to anneal the chemical to a crystalline form. The plate was removed after the annealing process was done, the groove was greased with optical grease, a blue optical fiber was inserted into the greased groove, and the groove was re-greased with the optical fiber inside. The tape was placed over the top of the greased groove.
A test was done on the plates to see if they would create light. The plates were put in a dark box and exposed to a 337 nm UV pulsed LASER. The fibers were fed into another dark box where their light was fed into a Photomultiplier Tube (PMT). The pulses of the LASER were monitored with a photodiode and compared to the pulses produced by the activated PMT on an oscilloscope.
Results:
Naphthalene and trans-Stilbene were not successfully plated. The Naphthalene and trans-Stilbene were too volatile. Both chemicals evaporated before a strong enough vacuum was created to begin the deposition process. If they are to be considered, a different process is necessary.
A control plate with no coating in between the panes was made to compare the scintillation. The control had a very low reading when hit with the UV laser.
The 1,4 diphenylbenzene (para-Terphenyl or PTP) plated and crystallized in the oven and scintillated. The desired thickness for PTP was 50 micrometers. The actual thickness we got from 2.5g of PTP was 45 micrometers. The plate with 5.0g of PTP had a thickness of 554 micrometers. When the optical fiber was fed into a PMT and placed in a dark box and was hit with the UV LASER, the oscilloscope did detect a successful signal with the blue fiber.
The Anthracene also plated successfully and cleared up in the oven, and scintillated. The desired thickness for Anthracene was 50 micrometers as well. The actual thickness for 2.5g of Anthracene was 31 micrometers. With 5.0g of Anthracene, we achieved a thickness of 41 micrometers. When tested in the darkbox we found that the blue fiber did not sufficiently wave shift and there was no signal at the end of the fiber. The Anthracene emits a higher wavelength than PTP so a higher wavelength wave-shifting fiber was needed. In an attempt to change results, a green fiber replaced the blue fiber which created a successful detection.
After changing the fibers to the green wave-shifting fiber, signals from both substances were taken. The thin films seemed to do better than the thick ones. The thin PTP was the best and the thick PTP was the worst with the Anthracene performing in the middle. The results of the measurements are expressed in the following table and graph:
Table of Data:
Plate Testing |
||
Plate |
Pulse (nC) |
Film thickness (um) |
PTP 5.0 |
649.60 |
554.14 |
PTP 2.5 |
2,588.40 |
45.72 |
A 5.0 |
1,083.40 |
41.91 |
A 2.5 |
1,555.00 |
30.90 |
control |
10.26 |
Graph of Plate Performance:
Further Work:
Finding a way to plate Naphthalene and trans-Stilbene will be helpful. The more options there are, the better. Then, mixing and testing different combinations of the chemicals to get the desired properties and emitted wavelengths could help perfect results. Finding a way to accurately plate Cerium tribromide without wasting it due to its expensive nature would also be interesting. Testing varying thicknesses of the quartz plates and the plated material will be helpful to see if the integration of the optical fiber into the plate can be improved. Stacking plates should also be investigated to see how they perform.
U of I Quarknet 2014 Report: CMS Model
Quarknet 2014 Report - University of Iowa
Preston Ross (Bettendorf High School)
William Fawcett (Bettendorf High School)
Archie Weindruch (Bettendorf High School)
Mr. Bruecken and Ms. Truesdell (Bettendorf High School)
Mr. Wetzel (University of Iowa)
Purpose:
The purpose of this project is to create an easily replicable, interactive, 3D scale model of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) at CERN. The model implements two current technologies: an Afinia 3D printer1 and Arduino Uno2 for its construction and functions. Once completed, the 3D design can easily be shared and printed throughout the world by anyone with a 3D printer, while other components of the model can be bought and assembled based on the finished model. The actual functions of CMS are simulated by lights controlled by the Arduino electronics boards . An interface with a Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM)3 allows the model to use cosmic muons to mimic a particle collision, with LEDs lighting up the model correspondingly, all of which can be controlled via an application available to an iPad or iPhone. The model is meant to be used for educational purposes, providing a cheaper way to closely examine the construction and functioning of the Compact Muon Solenoid.
Method:
The design of the 3D model of the CMS4 was accomplished by viewing schematics of the CMS and replicating it at a 1:60 scale5. Rather than producing one large piece of plastic in the general shape of the CMS, each major component of the CMS was printed and fitted together. The solenoid, being the largest singular piece of the CMS, limited the size of the 3D model, and thus the scale was based off the maximum allotted size of the model solenoid (12.7cm x 12.7cm). Additional parts, included to represent the functionality of the CMS, include the pixel detector, the preshower detector, the Forward Hadron Calorimeter, the silicon tracker, the Electromagnetic Calorimeter (ECAL), the Hadron Calorimeter (HCAL), and the Muon Detector, complete with its iron plates. The model’s parts are designed to be self-contained. A very minimal amount of glue is required for the pieces to hold together, as most parts interlock and wedge together, with an additional cradle holding up the structure itself.
The custom programmed Arduino Uno was used to control LEDs for display purposes6. The LEDs are capable of being turned on/off for each of the aforementioned parts of the model. A Silicon Photomultiplier Module (SiPM) is used to detect an actual cosmic ray muon which triggers the model to light up its components. This is meant to give a visualization of the muon stations in the CMS which help to track the muons given off from the high energy particle collisions. Compatibility with the iPad/iPhone was worked on using the iOS Developer software.
Results and Further Work:
A 3D printed, scale model of the CMS7 at CERN was successfully designed and printed8. However, while the code and capability of the LED display implementing a Silicon Photomultiplier and controlled by an iPad app exists, each part of the project has yet to be combined. The scale model has been successfully designed, the code for LED compatibility has been written, and code for an iPad/iPhone application has been written, but these components, due to time constraints, have not been combined for the final idealized product. For future work on this project, adhesive LEDs--such as those offered by superbrightleds.com9--must be purchased and connected to an Arduino, and an interface, preferably wireless using the Arduino Wifi Shield10--must be made between an iPad/iPhone and the Arduino in order to control the model.
Beyond the further work for this project alone, it may be beneficial, due to the increasingly useful nature of 3D printing, to pursue the creation of a working 3D model of CERN itself, as well as many other scientific experiments that, due to their uniqueness and size, could benefit from a smaller model useful for the education and training of its use and purposes. And the general populace may find more interest and understanding in science if an otherwise inaccessible and abstract experiment became a tangible object which they could access and control simply via an iPad/iPhone.
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http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoWiFiShield
2014 Annual Report - The University of Iowa
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Yasar Onell
Teacher-Mentors:
Peter G. Bruecken, Christopher Like and Moira Truesdell
Students:
William Fawcett, John Guhin, Lindsay Matthews, Nate Perk, Preston Ross and Archie Weindruch
During the summer of 2014, The University of Iowa hosted involved six students from Bettendorf High School and 19 teachers in a combination of research activities and a teacher institute. The work was directed by our Principal investigator, Dr. Yasar Onel and mentored by three of the teachers, Peter Bruecken, Christopher Like and Moira Truesdell. The summer activities focused on the following three projects: Preparing scintillating plates for a test beam at Fermilab, Building a demonstration model of CMS and a week-long teacher institute for 16 teachers from across the state of Iowa.
Activity 1: Building a demonstration model of CMS:
Three of the students aided a graduate student in executing his grant to build a demonstration model of The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) at CERN. The students drew parts in a proprietary program for a 3D printer, programmed Arduino® controller boards and helped design the assembly of the printer. The task consisted of making a 1/160 scale drawing of each functional part of CMS and printing the separate parts on the 3D printer. The students then programmed the controller boards to simulate, using lights, the particle interactions in the model when a cosmic ray triggered an event. The students programmed a Silicon Photomultiplier board to sense the presence of a cosmic ray and trigger a string of interactions in the model. Later, an app for mobile devices would enhance the event for observers of the model. The students drew and printed many parts for the demonstration as well as programmed some of the light boards for the model.
Activity 2: Scintillating plates:
Three other students aided two mentor/teachers in making quartz plates for a test beam at Fermilab. The students brought a legacy vacuum system into working condition and did vapor deposition of organic materials on quartz plates. The students then annealed the plates to make the deposition materials transparent and attached wave-shifting fibers to the edges of the plates to simulate tiles used in an actual calorimeter at CERN. This work set up a test to compare the performance of the materials for consideration in updating instruments.
Activity 3: Teacher Institute:
The three mentor teachers participated in providing a five-day, 40 hour institute for 16 other teachers who came from all parts of Iowa to hone their skills in particle physics and educational methodology. They focussed on the content of particle physics, the Next Generation Science Standards and pedagogy of implementing them. The teachers made lessons that focused the standards on high-energy particle physics topics. The institute was highlighted by a visit to Fermilab complete with tours and a talk with a research physicist.
Welcome to Iowa QuarkNet
Welcome to the Iowa QuarkNet Center group. To start, here are three things you can do right now:
Create/edit your site profile (please do ASAP!)
1. In the top menu, roll over "My stuff"
2. Choose "My profile"
3. Under your group name, choose the "About" button
4. Find and choose "Edit my profile"
5. In the "Account" page, you can change your password and upload an avatar image
6. In the "Personal information" page, you can add whether you are a QN teacher, your contact info, etc.
Add a post like this one
1. In the top menu, roll over "My stuff"
2. Choose "My groups"
3. Choose "Iowa QuarkNet Center"
4. At the top of the right sidebar, choose "Document" or “Post” from the drop-down list; choose "Create"
5. Start typing
6. Edit
7. Choose the "Save" button at the bottom left when it is time.
Comment on this post
1. Choose the "Comment" button at the bottom of this post
2. Type away.