Soudan Underground Mine-Physics Lab Tour

On April 4^th, along with two instructors, thirteen SME students from the Iron Range Engineering chapter visited the Soudan Underground Mine State Park, and toured the physics laboratory that is located on the 27^th level of the mine. The idea to have a physics lab at the lowest level of the Soudan Mine all started when Dr. Marvin Marshak, a professor at the University of Minnesota, went on a tour at the Soudan Underground Mine and discovered this would be a perfect spot for his research. After discussions with the DNR, Marvin built the first lab called Soudan 1 on the 23^rd floor to study neutron decay.  After five years of study Marvin realized that the detectors needed to be much bigger and a lot more sensitive. So in 1986, the second physics lab, Soudan 2, was built to handle bigger and more sensitive equipment. Then in 1999, excavation for MINOS began and was finished 18 months later. The MINOS laboratory was built next to the Soudan 2 laboratory on the 27^th floor of the mine. This is the laboratory that the IRE students and faculty members were able to tour. The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) laboratory was built to study neutrinos as they pass through the Earth. The neutrinos are sent from Fermilab, located in Warrenville Illinois, which uses its high intensity particle beam to send new generations of neutrinos towards the Soudan laboratory daily.

The students learned much more information on the process of tracking neutrinos passing through the Earth and hitting the 6,000 ton detector located in the physics lab. The group was also amazed at how the laboratory was built a half a mile underground. Everything in the lab needed to be disassembled above ground, sent down the mine shaft, and re-assembled individually once it was brought down the shaft.

Figure 1: Students and faculty members standing in front of the 6,000 ton particle detector

Proofread by Mike Lynch