The University of New Mexico will host the 22nd Workshop on Radiation Hard Semiconductor Devices for High Luminosity Colliders on its campus from June 3 to 5, 2013. This represents the first North American meeting in a series dating from 2001. Silicon detectors, including strip and pixel devices are ubiquitous in modern particle physics and nuclear physics experiments. The advent of three-dimensional devices and multi-layer structures used for local track triggering afford the prospects of bring tracking information to the earliest stages of trigger decisions for the data recording of very rare phenomena in a horrendous background of uninteresting processes.
Given the very high radiation fields in which these devices are located, and the attendant high readout rates needed to deal with signals both in situ and off detector, an ongoing strong effort is needed to conduct R&D and discuss results and challenges across the field on a regular basis. This workshop affords the scientific community such an opportunity. Sessions will cover Material and Defect Characterization, Detector Characterization, Full Detector Systems, and New Structures. A half day mini workshop on radiation damage at LHC experiments is planned for the afternoon of June 5. An important broader impact of the workshop is that attendance by junior members of the instrumentation community is a priority for the meeting. All talks will be plenary, providing excellent visibility for both experts and younger scientists.
A workshop on instrumentation for particle physics was held at the University of New Mexico in 2013. Eighteen junior scientists were given stipends that partially supported their participation in this conference. All of these people presented talks on detector research to the full conference delegation of 65 international scientific experts. The subject matter ranged from new materials to integrated particle tracking systems, and from electronics to data acquisition. Formal and informal discussions enhanced the students' opportunities to exchange ideas on state-of-the-art technology and to develop professional skills needed for scientific breakthroughs. In addition, undergraduates at the University of New Mexico conducted research on devices for tracking elementary particles. This research examined the relationship between environmental humidity and reverse breakdown of silicon sensors of the 3D design. The full set of conference presentations is available at physics.unm.edu/RD50_Workshop/. The student research is available at physics.unm.edu/pandaweb/undergraduate/programs/honorsThesis/Haley_McDuff.pdf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
