Researchers at ETH Zurich and EPFL have developed a particle detector that could simplify one of the biggest engineering challenges in experimental physics: tracking particles in three dimensions without relying on millions of individual detector elements.
Many modern particle detectors use scintillating materials that emit tiny flashes of light when struck by charged particles. To determine exactly where those particles have travelled, the detector is typically divided into millions of small sensing elements, each requiring its own optical readout. While this delivers excellent accuracy, it also increases manufacturing complexity, assembly time and cost, making larger detectors increasingly difficult to build.
The new prototype, known as PLATON, replaces this segmented architecture with a single block of scintillating material. Rather than identifying where light was produced by dividing the detector into smaller sections, the system uses a light-field camera and highly sensitive photon sensors to determine the position of each interaction. AI algorithms then reconstruct the particle’s path in three dimensions.
Laboratory testing and computer simulations suggest the approach could achieve performance comparable with today’s state-of-the-art detectors while dramatically reducing the number of individual components. According to the researchers, this could make future detector systems easier to manufacture, assemble and scale for larger experiments.
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Although developed for particle physics, the technology could also have applications in positron emission tomography (PET), where more accurate reconstruction of light signals could improve medical imaging. The research team has already filed patents covering the technology for PET systems.