Marco Kraan
@mjkraan.bsky.social
Curious Nikhef engineer who likes to show how beautiful the mechanics behind science can be
The @cern.bsky.social ATLAS ITK Mockup, with 15 dummy petals and cooling tubes, is placed in the closed Thermal Enclosure at the @nikhef.bsky.social clean room for a Moisture Test. Cooling lines are connected to the CO2 cooler (-30°C) and dry air (dew temp -40°C) is blown into the volume.
Spectacular unveiling of VELO1 Exhibition with Mylar film at @nikhef.bsky.social ! The problem was that the exhibition is quite high and angular, and pulling it over the exhibition posed a high risk of damaging the glass display case. Mylar tears very easily and was the solution for the unveiling:
@cern.bsky.social Director-General Mark Thomson and @nikhef.bsky.social @lhcb.bsky.social Program Leader Mara Senghi Soares jointly unveiled the VELO1 Exhibition together with Nikhef director Jorgen D'Hondt on Thursday, July 9 2026. youtu.be/R3CUyh5X33Y
VELO1 Exhibition at Nikhef - Unveiling (July 9, 2026)
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtu.be
VELO1 Exhibition at @nikhef.bsky.social - The Making Of After 12 years of faithful service at @lhcb.bsky.social the two VELO1 detectors are exhibit in a vertical position to obtain the best view. This exhibition will illustrate the strong link between science & technology. youtu.be/0-yUvrCoRWY
VELO1 Exhibition at Nikhef - The Making Of
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtu.be
This masterpiece, consisting of two VELO detectors with 46 Si modules in a row with an overlap of 4 mm and a mutual offset of 15 mm, can now be admired at @nikhef.bsky.social! It collected data from 2010 till 2018 in @lhcb.bsky.social @cern.bsky.social
VELO Exhibition will be unveiled July 9 at @nikhef.bsky.social Until now, this assembly was never visible to humans, it was only 'visible' by the passing particles in @lhcb.bsky.social from 2010 till 2018. These two silicon detectors have been measured for 10 years in the LHC beam @cern.bsky.social
VELO1 Exhibition: CO2 cooling & flat cables The new @lhcb.bsky.social VELO1 Exhibition will be unveiled on July 9 at @nikhef.bsky.social. These two silicon detectors have been measured for 10 years in the LHC beam of @cern.bsky.social youtube.com/shorts/LqYQ_...
VELO1 Exhibition: CO2 cooling & flat cables
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtube.com
VELO1 Exhibition: first detector successfully installed! The new @lhcb.bsky.social VELO1 Exhibition will be unveiled on July 9 at @nikhef.bsky.social (National Institute for Subatomic Physics). These two silicon detectors have been measured for 10 years in the LHC beam of @cern.bsky.social
4 wheels, feet, support bars & base display panel is assembled on the base frame of the VELO1 Exhibition. The new @lhcb.bsky.social VELO1 Exhibition will be unveiled on July 9 at @nikhef.bsky.social. These two silicon detectors have been measured for 10 years in LHC. youtube.com/shorts/LGFfj...
VELO1 Exhibition: assembly wheels and base display panel on base frame
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtube.com
VELO1 Exhibition: 4 support bars/rings & steel base frame are ready @nikhef.bsky.social. To be continued... The new @lhcb.bsky.social VELO1 Exhibition will be unveiled on July 9 at Nikhef. These two silicon detectors have been measured for 10 years in the LHC beam of @cern.bsky.social
The 4 aluminum elegant bars (which hold one @lhcb.bsky.social @cern.bsky.social VELO1 detector above the other) are ready at @nikhef.bsky.social (National Institute for Subatomic Physics)! The two VELOs are eager to exhibit.
Three-quarters of the milling of this elegant aluminium bar, which holds one VELO1 above the other, is complete in our @nikhef.bsky.social workshop. A new @lhcb.bsky.social VELO1 Exhibition will be unveiled on July 9 at Nikhef.
A new @lhcb.bsky.social VELO exhibition will be unveiled on July 9 at @nikhef.bsky.social (National Institute for Subatomic Physics). Production has already started to make this happen on short notice in collaboration with Rozemond Tentoonstellingen & LetterZ
A new lab takes shape at @nikhef.bsky.social for research into ultra-cold mirrors for gravitational-wave detectors: ICELab The ICELab hosts a new research facility designed to study and characterize mirror coatings for the next generation of gravitational-wave detectors as Einstein Telescope (ET)
Installing and closing the ETpathfinder Injection Tower. This tower consists of four 3.5-meter-high Inverted Pendulus (IPs), three Geometric Anti-Spring (GAS) filters and an 1.3x1.3m optical table. All three GAS filters were already tuned at @nikhef.bsky.social youtu.be/s4UdIFONVwM
Installing and closing ETpathfinder Injection Tower
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtu.be
See the first machining step of the housing for the Quadrant Photo-Diode (QPD) for ETPathfinder. The housing is being manufactured on a latest-generation 5-axis DMG CMX 70U milling machine at @nikhef.bsky.social (National Institute for Subatomic Physics). youtube.com/shorts/Up4Z6...
QPD ETpathfinder
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtube.com
Artwork of Jop Vissers Vorstenbosch at @nikhef.bsky.social (National Institute for Subatomic Physics)
See here the production of the first housings of the Quadrant Photo-Receivers (QPRs) at @nikhef.bsky.social for the future Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). LISA is the first European space mission to measure gravitational waves in the universe. youtu.be/akYodNUc2KU
Production LISA QPR Housing @ Nikhef
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtu.be
Today @nikhef.bsky.social (National Institute for Subatomic Physics) again covered with a thin layer of snow ❄️
The cloud chamber is an important part of the @nikhef.bsky.social expostrip, the instrument that make traces of small particles visible, but is now under maintenance 🛠️ It will be back soon 😊
Yesterday, January 22, after 2 months of production, the special custom-made @nikhef.bsky.social conference table for our director (Prof. Jorgen D'Hondt) is installed by the company HOUTWERK and with the help of our facilities department. youtube.com/shorts/k-QGX...
Installation of the special Nikhef conference table (3/3)
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtube.com
Yesterday, the well-attended @nikhef.bsky.social New Year's reception (postponed due to ❄️ conditions last week) and the announcement that master's student Meer Patel has won the 2025 Olga Igonkina travel grant for her work on the dark matter detector : www.nikhef.nl/news/oiga-ig...
Almost finished 🥂! A special @nikhef.bsky.social conference table (3x1.5m with an inlaid Nikhef logo) for our new director Jorgen D'Hondt is in production at Houtwerk B.V. 👉 To be continued next week ✨!
A special @nikhef.bsky.social conference table (3x1.5m with an inlaid Nikhef logo) for our new director Jorgen D'Hondt is being produced at Houtwerk B.V. 👉 To be continued in early 2026 🥂✨!
Last week a @km3net.bsky.social neutrino ORCA33 detector on scale model 1:60 was presented in the entree hall of @nikhef.bsky.social. It was built as a Friday-afternoon-project by staff and students. ORCA33 lies in the Mediterranean sea at a depth of 2450 meters. youtu.be/Tn3ffk63VKc
KM3NeT ORCA33 scale model 1:60
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtu.be
Two months ago the two first VELO detectors were transported from @cern.bsky.social to @nikhef.bsky.social. They measured for 12 years in the LHCb experiment and were removed from the experiment 6 years ago in 2019. Question is whether they are suitable for exhibition? youtube.com/shorts/uLEXo...
Crucial check VELO1 for exhibition at Nikhef
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtube.com
Impressive machining of the second (of 5) top part of the Liquid Nitrogen vessel for #ETpathfinder at @nikhef.bsky.social Volume of this vessel will be 45L and will be filled with 25L liquid Nitrogen (N2) to cool the cryogenic shields in the four mirrors towers youtube.com/shorts/2AdCE...
LN2 vessel ETpathfinder
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtube.com
@nikhef.bsky.social (National Institute for Subatomic Physics) is almost ready for her Christmas dinner (end of year party) tomorrow (Dec 10)
One month ago the Beam Splitter (BS) tower was installed in the bottom part of the vacuum vessel at #ETpathfinder. Now that all filters have been tuned, the vacuum vessel can be closed. @maastrichtu.bsky.social @nikhef.bsky.social @einsteintelescope.bsky.social youtu.be/6-TxZI1W8tA
Closing BS vacuum vessel @ ETpathfinder
YouTube video by Marco Kraan
youtu.be