Gammasphere

Gammasphere gamma ray spectrometer at Argonne National Laboratory
Another angle of the Gammasphere

The Gammasphere is a third generation gamma ray spectrometer used to study rare and exotic nuclear physics. It consists of 108 Compton-suppressed large volume, high-purity germanium detectors arranged in a spherical shell.[1]

Gammasphere has been used to perform a variety of experiments in nuclear physics. Most experiments involve using heavy ion nuclear fusion to form a highly excited atomic nucleus. This nucleus may then emit protons, neutrons, or alpha particles followed by a shower of tens of gamma rays. Gammasphere is used to measure properties of these gamma-rays for tens of millions of such gamma ray showers. The resultant data is analyzed to gain a deeper understanding of the properties of nuclei.

Gammasphere was built in the early 1990s and has operated at the 88-inch cyclotron at Berkeley National Laboratory and at Argonne National Laboratory.

In the movie Hulk Bruce Banner is zapped by a machine called Gammasphere. The actual Gammasphere, which detects rather than emits gamma rays, was used as a model for the device shown in the movie.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ , Gammasphere Online Booklet
  2. ↑ , ScienceDaily: Gammasphere Featured In New 'Hulk' Movie

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, July 18, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.