Fermilab Visual Media Services made a nice little documentary about the installation of the detector.
- January 5, 2001: installation work in tank began.
- Feb 22: first PMT installed.
- May 15: we reach the equator.
- Jul 20: all but polar caps and access rows complete.
- Sep 7: polar caps installed.
- Oct 19: last PMT's installed.
- 1521 PMT's installed and tested in total.
This web page will documents the installation of experimental equipment inside the MiniBooNE detector tank. For an overview of the MiniBooNE experiment and links to general information about neutrinos and neutrino oscillations, see the MiniBooNE page at Fermilab
Feb 5-9: Surveying for lat installation.
Feb 12-16: Lat 0-6 installation.
Several lats in place. This is a quite striking view! | Bill Sands with newly-installed Lat 0. Unlike the rest, Lat 0's struts are suspended from I-beams in the tophat. |
Feb 19-23: Hardware and first phototubes.
Quadrant view, showing (top to bottom): cable bundles, main strain relief, boss/strut/clamp, lat, lat strip with overlap panel. |
| Bill and Hayes with test installation of first optical barrier panel. |
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Lats 1-4 with lat strips and test installation of two OB panels. | OB panel with two PMT stands. Mounting blocks change orientation to accept both stand types. (Don't tell Bonnie till we find those tubes!) | ||
First phototubes mounted!! Veto cluster 2-1 on the tank wall. |
| Another view of veto cluster 2-1. | |
Stan making first splice on veto tube 2-1A. | First splice with oil seal. | ||
Testing splice 2-1B: before. A NIM-size pulse is split, with one path running directly to the scope (large pulse at left) and the other running down the PMT cable. Before the splice, the reflection from the open end returns to the scope 365 ns later (pulse on right). | Testing splice 2-1B: after. Because the PMT base is back-terminated, with the splice complete the reflection nearly vanishes. (There is a slight impedance mismatch between the long teflon cable and the PVC pigtail on the base.) | ||
First row of optical barrier panels (for main PMT row 4) in. (Overlap strips not yet mounted.) | Veto cluster behind OB panel. Click here for a much better picture taken Mar 15. |
Feb 26-Mar 2: More hardware.
Mar 12-16: Install main (rows 3-6) and veto (row 3) PMT's in upper level.
Mar 17-23: Install main row 7, test installed tubes, remove top scaffold deck.
Main rows 3-6 in place. | Andrew and Bill splicing row 7. | ||
Main rows 3-7 in place. | Main rows 3-7 in place. | ||
Andrew and Bill after a long day. | Fernanda, communing. | ||
Peter posing. |
Mar 26-30: Install hardware, veto row 4.
Veto row 4. | Splicing veto row 4. | ||
"Boxing ring" tower. | Neil and Peter splicing. |
Apr 2-6: Install main rows 8-10.
Marching down the sphere. |
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Stan as you've never seen him. | Bill and Hayes lowering scaffolding. |
Apr 9-13: Working on main rows 11, 12.
QT racks. | Bill Louis prepping panels. | ||
Two pictures from the Fermilab photographer. |
Apr 16-20: Splice main rows 11, 12.
Apr 23-27: Install veto row 5, most of main row 13.
Apr 30-May 4: Finish main row 13, install 14. Lead elements reach equator!
May 7-11: Install veto row 6, most of main row 15.
May 14-18: Crossing the equator: install rest of main row 15, all of 16, 17.
May 21-25: Install main row 18, most of 19.
May 28-Jun 1: Install rest of main row 19.
Jun 4-8: Install veto row 7. most of main row 20.
I finally borrowed a tripod! | |||
Jun 11-15: Install rest of main row 20, all of row 21. Return half of scaffold
Looking down through tophat. | First truckload of scaffolding departing. |
Jun 18-22: Install main rows 22, 23, 24 and veto row 8
Jun 25-29: Install main row 25 and most of 26.
Jul 2-6: Off
Jul 9-13: Install rest of main row 26, all of
main row 27 and veto row 9, most of main row 28 (leaving a gap over the manhole.).
Jul 16-20: Install main rows 29 and 30 (with gaps for access) and veto row 10. Ready for polar cap endgame.
Aug 20-24: The endgame begins. Install LSU laser flasks.
Sep 4-7: Install North Polar Cap with LSU scintillator cubes. Install South Polar Cap and main row 31.
Oct 17-20: Final in-tank installation: top veto cluster and 10 main tubes around manhole, seal top lid.