Information (EN)

Twice a year during semester breaks we perform an experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) to teach students experimental particle physics.

Between 6 and 12 students from ETHZ and University of ZH and sometimes also from other Universities stay for about 3 weeks at PSI in Villigen and participate in a hands-on course on experimental particle physics. The course includes 1.5 weeks of lectures in the morning, where theory and experimental techniques are being taught. In the afternoons the students design and build the experimental apparatus themselves, using equipment at the time not involved in another experiment at PSI. In the second part of the course (2 weeks) real data taking at one of the secondary beams is done, following an eight hour shift schedule, where two students take turns supervising the experiment (including nights and weekends).

The data taken are partially analysed during the course period at PSI, however the final analysis is done during the following semester at the home university. The students hand in altogether one single report, signed in common by all. The exact date of the course is determined by the PSI beam schedule.

praktikum4
praktikum5

Measurements done in courses of the past are listed here as examples:

  1. Branching ratio ((pi- --> e nu)/(pi- --> mu nu)
  2. Panofski ratio (pi- p --> pi0 n) , (pi- p --> gamma n)
  3. Test of special relativity
  4. Quadrupole moment of Holmium with pionic X-rays
  5. pi0 pi- mass difference
  6. Positron polarisation from muon-decay through positronium decay
  7. Lifetime, magnetic moment and Michel parameters in muon decay.
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