LHC LHCb

Located in a vast underground cavern, 100 metres beneath the French countryside, LHCb is one of the four large experiments on the LHC at CERN. The experiment has already recorded the particles produced by the first circulating LHC proton beam on September 10th, 2008.

The aim of the LHCb experiment is to record the decay of particles containing b and anti-b quarks, collectively known as 'B mesons'. The 4,500 tonne detector is specifically designed to filter out these particles and the products of their decay. The experiment's two Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detectors work by measuring emissions of Cherenkov radiation. This allows them to measure velocity and momentum, and thus the identification of the charged particles.

STFC's responsibility was for the composite exit window and seals on RICH1, and for the huge aluminium superstructure and composite window on RICH2. All the materials for the windows were taken to CERN, and they were built on-site at CERN. The components of the detector, many of which are extremely heavy or delicate, had to be lowered into the underground chamber through a narrow shaft connecting it to the surface. This posed considerable challenges for the team . The RICH-2 detector one of the experiment's most fragile pieces of kit, was transported 8km across the site, before being lowered whole into the chamber.