The Experimental Physics Department initiated as the merge of the Collisions Department and the General Physics Department in 1983. Even if the name says it, in the department not only experimental physics is cultivated, nor all the experimental physics of the Physics Institute is made here. The name came for historical inheritance.

This department is the biggest in the institute, it adds up to 28 scientists, 4 of them Emeritus, 14 Technicians, 10 administrative and more than 50 associated students.

The Department have extensive experimental installations: 4 electrostatic particle accelerators, high vacuum laboratories, target preparation laboratories, detector laboratories, dosimetry laboratory, optics laboratory and a little workshop among the more significants.

The main interest areas start with particle beams from accelerators, electrons and positive ions. At low energy there is atomic physics research, material modification, implantation and characterization, surface physics, polymers and metal behaviour, nanostructures production and modification. Analytical techniques as PIXE, RBS, ERDA, PESA, NRA, X-ray fluorescence, Ionoluminiscence and many others are well established. These tools are used in applied and basic physics research. Working with accelerators and radiation in general allow us to interact with Art, archeology, biology, odontology, anthropology, medicine and many others disciplines. At intermediate energies we work in nuclear physics, heavy ions, nuclear astrophysics among other specialities in this range. At high energies there are collaboration with cosmic rays observatories and with the great accelerators in CERN and other laboratories.

In the department, different methods of monitoring, detecting, quantifying and using ionizing radiation are investigated. We work in dosimetry and micro-dosimetry, medical physics and with hospitals, including work on dignostic radiology and radiotherapy. We work in computational physics and physics of evolution. The department have plasma facilities where we work with thin films, metal deposition and nitriding.