Construcción de un detector de muones portátil para el Laboratorio de Astrofísica y Astropartículas de la Escuela Politécnica Nacional

Abstract

The purpose of this project is the design and implementation of a portable muon detector prototype for the Laboratory of Astrophysics and Astroparticles of the Escuela Politécnica Nacional. For this project, a detection system based on a scintillating polymer that interacts with the high energy particles that cross it and generate photons that are detectable has been used. To perform this detection silicon photomultiplier diode (SiPM) is used, and its signal is conditioned to be read by an Arduino development board. This signal is processed and the muon rate per second and the average voltage generated in the SiPM are obtained. This information is stored in an SD memory and is presented using an LCD screen. Additionally, the system counts with a battery to work autonomously. Finally, programs that allow a quick analysis of the information stored have been developed using the Python programming language.