The Institute of Physics has received an award for a video about the testing of silicon sensors for CERN. The reason? The video, made for the institute's social media, explains the testing process in a way that is both clear and engaging. The award itself takes the form of a statuette resembling a film Oscar.
The video follows the entire process of receiving a shipment of sensors, from their arrival at the laboratory, through the unpacking of the protective casing, to their careful registration. These components are destined for the future upgrade of the ATLAS detector, a device that records particle collisions at the highest energies ever achieved by humankind. Working with them requires strict protocols: every sensor is sensitive to static electricity, dust and moisture.
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A hundred metres underground
ATLAS is the largest particle detector in the world. It is located underground near Geneva, at CERN, the world's leading laboratory for particle physics, and forms part of the LHC accelerator. The detector is 46 metres long, 25 metres tall, and weighs roughly as much as the Eiffel Tower. It captures collisions of protons accelerated to nearly the speed of light, recreating the conditions of the fractions of a second following the Big Bang. The task of the ATLAS detector is to record what happens in those moments.
In 2030, the upgraded version of the LHC, known as the High-Luminosity LHC, is planned for launch. It will deliver significantly more collisions per second than the current ATLAS detector can handle, which is why the detector will undergo a major upgrade, including a brand new inner tracking detector. Faster, more precise and more resistant to radiation. It will be built from silicon sensors: thin wafers that record the trace of a charged particle the moment it passes through them.