Scintillators, Scintillators, Scintillators...

July 16th - Setting up Scintillators for BNL with Dima and Dr. Spahn. Starts at 9 PM

Research:

• Efficiency Curves
• Scintillator Parts
• How to chose a correct resistor
• Calibration of Scintillator Panels
• DAQ Usage
• Turning on power
• Try to get GRID Certificates! RPHS Email addresses? John Hover's ideas for implementing Mariachi CA?

July 16, 2007

What an amazing day. Today Pat and I built FIVE scintillators all on our own with the help of Dr. Spahn and Jack. Using the different parts of a scintillator we were able to create five finished ones. These scintillators will be installed at Brookhaven labs later on for people to view the work of mariachi first hand. It was a great experience to learn how the scintillators REALLY work. And a direct quote from the man, Dr. Spahn himself, "I feel that it is very important that you understand how your apparatus works before you begin research."

July 17, 2007

Today we started to plateau the five scintillators. Since we had no clue which scintillators ran at what voltage we had to start from scratch. We placed three scintillators, one on top of the other and ran the DAQ program to see which voltage the middle scintillator was most efficient at. This voltage was not right at all but just a rough estimate so we had some place to start. We had to do this to all five scintillators. This took a very long time and was very boring but it needed to be done. One of the scintillators seems to be a little light sensitive. It needs to be tested and looked at with an oscilloscope to see what the problem is.

July 18, 2007

Today Mike finished the plateauing of the 4 working scintillators. He then used the approximate voltages to calculate the different resistors that would be needed. After calculating the resistors and testing them to make sure they worked he placed two of them in the coincidence box and connected the two corresponding scintillators up to the box. He then placed a scintillator without a resistor in between the two other scintillators to find a more exact voltage to run the unknown scintillator at. He were able to find these more precise voltages for two of the four working scintillators. The one scintillator was still acting light sensitive today so Dr. Spahn and Mike connected that scintillator to an oscilloscope and saw weird results. The signals were periodic and big. When we shut off the power the signal continued to be observed. We believe it is acting as an antenna to a nearby frequency. We will open up the box and try to repair it tomorrow.

July 19, 2007

Today Dr. Spahn and Mike helped Jack catch up on some work. They worked with the gun cases and made them usable by MARIACHI. They had to cut the foam inside the case and drill the holes for the outputs. They did it an amazing in 3 hours. After that they talked to Dr. Marx about doing a week long study on placing scintillators outside and recording data in collaboration with Matt and Matt before they leave. After this they went up and helped Jack create the panels for the new voltage monitor which will be used in some of scintillator cases. Dr. Spahn wants Mike to do some work with cosmic rays and atmospheric pressure. They will talk tomorrow. Pat has stopped coming so Dr. Spahn and Mike have continued on without him.