Scientists build a camera that can track invisible particles in 3D

Jul 17, 2026 Last reply: 3 days ago 7 Replies
J

From:

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Scientists built a camera that can track invisible particles in 3D Date: July 17, 2026 Source: ETH Zurich Summary: A new particle detector called PLATON could replace millions of tiny detector components with a single block of light-producing material. Using a light-field camera, highly sensitive photon sensors, and AI, it reconstructs particle paths in fast, detailed 3D. Simulations suggest it could match or surpass today’s best detectors while being far easier to scale. The technology may also lead to sharper PET medical scans.



Paper:

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Bye bye CERN?


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J

Nah. They'll just engulf this, if it works at scale.

A historical parallel is Wakefield Particle Accelerators:

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Joe

Joe

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J

If this really works as well as they claim, CERN will certainly make use of it. CERN people have lots of contacts with Swiss academia, so they're likely already in on it. I note that one person involved is the son of a former CERN director.

Jeroen Belleman

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J

Nice, thank you, lots of stuff I did not know.

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J

I already want to build one detector like that myself. If stuff gets available I have several scintillator crystals laying about. cameras I have... Microlens array... no, but wait a minute...

3D? High resolution cameras on 2 sides of the scintillator crystal?

Probably missing something here.

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J

Yep, sensitivity. Their cameras were arrays of SPADs, not something you'll find in the shop around the corner.

Jeroen Belleman

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C

CERN is concerned about many different types of particles.

(S.

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fuer Kontaktdaten!)

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J

True, dawned on me after I posted that.

CMOS cameras make great particle detectors too, radiation causing bright spots in the pictures / video.

I use some Sony Super HAD ultra sensitve cameras, almost pictures in the dark, minimum illumination 0.001 lux

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not tried to use those on any of my scintillator crystals... Those have PMTs looking at them. Experimenting is fun
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one has a smaller Russian PMT, scintillator crystal and PMT in the cardboard tube:: gamma_spectrometer_plus_probe_plus_geiger_counter_2_IMG_4185.JPG

More stuff, there is a gamma spectrometry group I used to follow:

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