This book originates from lectures given to undergraduate and graduate
students over several academic years. Students questions and interests have
driven the need to make systematic and comprehensive (we hope) the presentation
of the basic principles of a field which is under continuous development.
The physics principles of radiation interaction with matter are
introduced as a general knowledge background needed to understand how
radiation can be detected. Technical developments are making available
detectors and detecting media of increasing complexity. Historically, the
first nuclear particle detectors (like those based on X-rays films) were very
simple. In the course of time, the detectors have become more and more
sophisticated. In addition, complex systems of detectors generally targeting
a wide range of physics goals led to large experimental apparata often constituted
by several sub-detectors. These large detector assemblies require
dedicated methods of reconstruction and analysis of data to decrease the
experimental errors. Therefore, both detectors and detection methods are
fields of developments and investigations. To be detected, radiation and
particles have to interact during their passage through a medium. Therefore,
the first chapters are dealing with collision and radiation energy losses
by charged particles, photon absorption and nuclear collision in matter.