Teachers in the beamline
by Nikolai Promies (DESY), 06/12/2016

German teachers assembling a detector component at DESY in October 2016 (Image: DESY)

Most of the time, the DESY II electron/positron synchrotron at DESY in Hamburg has to fulfil two tasks: accelerate electrons or positrons for the PETRA III synchrotron light source and provide the three test beam lines with 1-6 GeV/c electrons that can be used to test new detector systems.

But from 25 to 28 October, some unusual guests interrupted the daily routine.

Ten teachers from German high schools used the test beam facilities that are part of the AIDA-2020 Transnational Access programme to assemble and test a detector component. They were participants of the first teacher training programme on particle physics at DESY in Hamburg that gave them insight into DESY’s research, the everyday lives of researchers and current topics in particle physics.

In addition to short lectures on the basics of particle physics, accelerators and detectors, the programme included the ability to conduct experiments at three different DESY labs.

At DESY II, one of the test beam lines and the associated hut were reserved just for the teachers. Using already prepared building blocks, they assembled a sandwich calorimeter and were then able to measure the energy of the electron beam with the help and support of the DESY scientists.

The teachers were also given an introduction to the new beam telescope, the latest edition of which is starting to take data for AIDA-2020 projects at CERN.