Chapter 9
Nuclear Emulsions
Akitaka Ariga, Tomoko Ariga, Giovanni De Lellis, Antonio Ereditato,
and Kimio Niwa
9.1 Introduction
Among all tracking devices used in particle physics, nuclear emulsion particle
detectors feature the highest spatial resolution in measuring ionizing particle tracks.
Emulsions have contributed to outstanding achievements and discoveries in particle
physics. Although there was a period of decline of the emulsion technique, the
interest in the technique has moved into the front line of physics research because
of the advances in digital read-out by high-speed automated scanning and the
continuous development of emulsion gel design. In particular, they are unsurpassed
for the topological detection of short-lived particles and for specific applications in
neutrino physics and other emerging fields. Indeed, a huge potential of emulsion
detectors in applied research will be shown in this study. In this chapter, we will
mainly focus on developments in experimental techniques for particle physics and
briefly present a selection of the main experimental results.
A. Ariga · A. Ereditato
Laboratory for High Energy Physics - Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, University
of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
e-mail: akitaka.ariga@lhep.unibe.ch; antonio.ereditato@cern.ch
T. Ariga
Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
e-mail: tomoko.ariga@cern.ch
G. De Lellis ()
Dipartimento di Fisica, Napoli, Italy
e-mail: Giovanni.de.Lellis@cern.ch
K. Niwa
Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
e-mail: niwa@flab.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp
© The Author(s) 2020
C. W. Fabjan, H. Schopper (eds.), Particle Physics Reference Library,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35318-6_9
383
Nuclear Emulsions
Akitaka Ariga, Tomoko Ariga, Giovanni De Lellis, Antonio Ereditato,
and Kimio Niwa
9.1 Introduction
Among all tracking devices used in particle physics, nuclear emulsion particle
detectors feature the highest spatial resolution in measuring ionizing particle tracks.
Emulsions have contributed to outstanding achievements and discoveries in particle
physics. Although there was a period of decline of the emulsion technique, the
interest in the technique has moved into the front line of physics research because
of the advances in digital read-out by high-speed automated scanning and the
continuous development of emulsion gel design. In particular, they are unsurpassed
for the topological detection of short-lived particles and for specific applications in
neutrino physics and other emerging fields. Indeed, a huge potential of emulsion
detectors in applied research will be shown in this study. In this chapter, we will
mainly focus on developments in experimental techniques for particle physics and
briefly present a selection of the main experimental results.
A. Ariga · A. Ereditato
Laboratory for High Energy Physics - Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, University
of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
e-mail: akitaka.ariga@lhep.unibe.ch; antonio.ereditato@cern.ch
T. Ariga
Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
e-mail: tomoko.ariga@cern.ch
G. De Lellis ()
Dipartimento di Fisica, Napoli, Italy
e-mail: Giovanni.de.Lellis@cern.ch
K. Niwa
Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
e-mail: niwa@flab.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp
© The Author(s) 2020
C. W. Fabjan, H. Schopper (eds.), Particle Physics Reference Library,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35318-6_9
383