Author Description

The fourth edition of this book has been widely revised. It includes additional chapters and some sections were complemented with new ones or with an extension of their content. In this edition a complete treatment of the physics and properties of semiconductors is presented. It covers transport phenomena in semiconductors, scattering mechanisms, radiation effects and displacement damages. Furthermore, this edition presents a comprehensive treatment of the Coulomb scattering on screened nuclear potentials resulting from electrons, protons, light- and heavy-ions - ranging from (very) low up to ultra-relativistic kinetic energies - and allowing one to derive the corresponding NIEL (non-ionizing energy-loss) doses deposited in any material. Although a unique book, the current edition is in two parts. The first one treats Particle Interactions and Displacement Damage covering the chapters from 1 to 7; the second one on Radiation Environments and Particle Detection extends from the 8th up to the 15th (final) chapter. This book will be of great use to graduate students and final-year undergraduates as a reference and supplement for courses in particle, astroparticle, space physics and instrumentation. A part of the book is directed toward courses in medical physics. The book can also be used by researchers in experimental particle physics at low, medium, and high energy who are dealing with instrumentation.