Low cost SiPM-based detector for the measurement of the energy loss of a proton beam, with particular focus on the Bragg peak

Nowadays, thanks to the spreading of different applications in the field of applied nuclear physics, such as protontherapy, detector testing and radiation hardness measurement, the number of particle beam facilities all around the world is significantly growing and the characterisation of these beams is becoming a very frequent operation. Here we present a low cost detector, made up by a student team selected by the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics, for the study of the energy loss curve of charged particle beams, employing scintillator and SiPM technology, that allows both to make quick measurements without a complex setup and to run experiments for educational purposes, thanks to its expandable design.