Visit Nikhef

Amsterdam Science Park Open Day

In October, the Open Day is an excellent opportunity to take a look inside Nikhef. All institutes at the Amsterdam Science Park hold Open House then, so there is a lot to see and do. This year the Open Day takes place on Saturday, October 7.

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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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Research

Detector R&D

Answering big elementary particle physics questions requires pioneering experiments. The Detector R&D program at Nikhef is aimed at conceptualizing and testing of instrumentation concepts before they are implemented in scientific programs at Nikhef.

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Research

Physics Data Processing

Advanced computing for physics and other sciences. Nikhef researchers are mainly developing increasingly better grid software, and transferring their grid knowledge, so that  scientists who are struggling with an ‘impossible’ data problem can profit from the grid.

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Programme spotlight

XENONnT: Dark matter

Of all matter in our Universe, only about 5% consists of ‘ordinary matter’ as we commonly know it, built up from atoms. This is what all stars, planets and other visible materials are made up from. However, no less than 95% consists of dark energy (68%) and dark matter (27%).

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Technische afdelingen Nikhef

Mechanical technology

The Mechanical Technology (MT) department is made up of approximately 30 MBO-, HBO- and University schooled technical engineers. The main task of the department is to develop, design and realise mechanical solutions for the mostly international projects that Nikhef participates in.

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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. The detectors record these collisions, which release a lot of energy to create new particles. Nikhef is active in ALICE, ATLAS and LHCb at CERN and eEDM in Groningen.

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Research

Theory

Nikhef’s Theoretical Physics group performs theoretical research on a wide range of fundamental topics in high-energy physics, ranging from particle and astroparticle physics to cosmology, gravitational waves and string theory.

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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

28 September 2023

Groningen atom trapper Steve Jones helped drop antihydrogen at CERN

Antimatter falls down exactly like matter, the Alpha-g experiment at CERN shows. Nikhef researcher in Groningen Steve Jones was involved in the measurements. It’s a physical result that…

27 September 2023

Lead nuclei in LHC accelerator at full beam power for the first time

At CERN, lead nuclei have been going around the LHC accelerator at full beam power for the first time since early this week. The lab in Geneva announced…

27 September 2023

Consortium in the making for Einstein Telescope in Meuse-Rhine region

Belgium, the Netherlands and the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia will prepare a joint consortium to establish the Einstein Telescope in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion. During the ET Ministerial…

Future events

7 October 2023

Open day 2023

Nikhef offers a look behind the scenes during the Open Day of the Amsterdam Science Park in 2023. This year, the open day will take place on Saturday…
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9 October 2023

PhD defense Pawan Gupta @ UU

Pawan Gupta, PhD at Nikhef, will defend his thesis Monday 9 oktober 2023 at 16.15 at the Utrecht University. “ Probing compact objects with gravitational waves – Bounding…
13 October / 15 December 2023

Collegereeks Leidse Muurformules bij Universiteit Leiden met Nikhef-onderzoekers

Leiden heeft een rijke historie aan natuurkundige ontdekkingen. Zo verdienden Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Hendrik Lorentz en Pieter Zeeman hun Nobelprijs in de sleutelstad voor de ontdekking van supergeleiding…