Research Spotlight

LHCb: Antimatter and b-quarks

Nikhef is member of the LHCb experiment, one of the detectors at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva. Here, together with international colleagues, Nikhef scientists try to find answers to the many questions surrounding topics such as matter and anti-matter.

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Research

Particle Physics

In particle physics, very large detectors are used to study elementary particles. Particles such as protons are accelerated in a particle accelerator, and made to collide with each other. Nikhef is active in ALICE, ATLAS and LHCb at CERN.

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Outreach website

Nikhef's Outreach activities

Want to find out more about our research? On our Outreach website you will find all our outreach activities organised by Nikhef in Amsterdam for the general public, students and teachers. See you at Nikhef!

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Research

Astroparticle physics

Astroparticle physics combines physics and astronomy. In the cosmos, very strong magnetic fields create what can be considered a ‘natural’ particle accelerator. To perform astrophysics research, scientists ‘just’ need to build the right detectors. Nikhef is active in KM3NeT, Auger, XENON1T/nT and Virgo.

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Technology at Nikhef

Technology departments

The technology departments at Nikhef employ about 80 people. They support the scientific projects by designing and building (parts of) detectors, accelerators, readout and control systems, and computer and network infrastructures.

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Research Spotlight

Auger: Cosmic rays

Nikhef scientists, together with colleagues from around the world, perform research at the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory, an international observatory for the detection of ultra-high-energy cosmic radiation, located on the plains of western Argentina. They do so to learn more about the nature and origins of this mysterious cosmic radiation.

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News

KM3NeT detects the highest energy neutrino ever observed

The KM3NeT Collaboration announces the detection from the abyss of the Mediterranean Sea of a cosmic neutrino with a record-breaking energy of about 220 PeV.

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National Institute for Subatomic Physics

Welcome to Nikhef. We are the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics. Our institute performs research into the elementary building blocks of our Universe, their mutual forces and the structure of space and time.
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Please note that some of the content on our homepage and further pages has not been translated into English yet.

Recent news

3 July 2025

LHC accelerator colliding oxygen for the very first time

For the first time ever oxygen ions are currently circulating in the LHC accelerator at CERN in Geneva for special experiments. All detectors are observing this unknown territory…

27 June 2025

Venice forum brings future of particle physics into focus

Discussions this week at the Open Symposium of the European Strategy for Particle Physics demonstrate strong progress towards ensuring that CERN remains a world leader in collider physics…

16 June 2025

Nikhef 50 years young

Nikhef director Jorgen D’Hondt kicked off the celebration of the institute’s 50th anniversary with a special video message. In it, he emphasises the family feeling within Nikhef. The…

Future events

4 September / 5 December 2025

Profielwerkstukken op 4 september, 16 oktober en 5 december

Je zit in 6 vwo, je bent heel nieuwsgierig naar subatomaire deeltjes en je moet binnenkort aan de slag met je profielwerkstuk. Dan kun je terecht bij Nikhef!…
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4 October 2025

Science Day 2025

The Science Day 2025 will be held on 4 October. The Science Day (formerly Open Day) of Amsterdam Science Park is a collaboration of Amsterdam Science Park (Science…