In this page the cloud chambers which left the garage or currently under construction.
Machine n°0 : the Prototype
This machine was built in April 2020 from raw materials during the lockdown. Until now, it’s my live experiment to test new glass chambers (method of evaporation, collection of alcohol, symmetry of electric fields, alcohol proofness…). I never modified the « core », the system which produce the cold needed. It need a serious design upgrade but I like it as is because this thing remains reliable after years despite all the brutality it subice !
This is this 4 th anniversary of running :
Machine n°1 : IP2I 2022
The cloud chamber of september 2022 was sold to an University in Lyon (CNRS, IP2I).
The feedback obtained is that the lock is malfunctioning and the power plug of the IR lamp could be more sturdy. I then modified the machine a year later to improve this.
The machine still works 2 years later :
Machine n°2 : IPHC 2023
I built another machine for an University in Strasbourg. I improved the internal design and made a lots of simplifications.
I liked their laboratory, the same as old films in secret labs from cold war
The machine still work fine but they had a problem : when methanol was spread outside the chamber, it dissolved the black paint I put on the external aluminium frame.
I thought it was more « design » in black but methanol corrode anything so I will stay with my raw aluminium corners, still good !
Machine n°3 : UCLouvain 2025
The Institut de Recherche en Mathématique et Physique de Louvain en Belgique desired a machine, but this was new for me as I had to ship it in early 2025.
I put the chamber on a wood pallet with a sturdy carboard reinforced. Unfortunately the courrier put a heavy package on the box which completely broke the glass chamber, making some damages to the active surface. I sent a whole new glass chamber into an unbreakable wood box, and again, it arrived destroyed on a side. I sent another shipment with the new side to the University, then they glued it with standard silicone to build the glass chamber. Then, they changed perfectly the active surface thanks to a video and the machine worked as usual. So, shipping glass chamber in long distance is almost impossible. The best way is to glue it from separate parts.
The university was very patient and skillful to repair the glass chamber.
Machine n°4 : Switzerland 2025
After 3 years of patience, Mr. Steve went personally from Suisse to get his cloud chamber. He built a dry ice cloud chamber but he wanted something more easy to run, as the supply and storage of dry ice is problematic. He is involved in numerous science club of Geneva to teach the radioactive world to youngs and is passionated about solar flares. He think that during solar flares these events can be seen in the cloud chamber. This is possible as protons or gammas in the GeV range can be emitted by the sun during CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) but I guess you need a good luck to be not far from the shower of particles. I hope to receive some interaction pictures of them, including some muons where the flux is dependent of the time of observation, as he said wisely.
Despite the high winds outside, the machine work perfeclty
The machine is now in Geneva, looking for cosmic radiation.