Rika Takahashi | 2 June 2011On 26 May, a first test beam steered through the linac of the Accelerator Test Facility at KEK, Japan, with the same energy as before the March 2011 earthquake. Engineers are now working on the magnet alignment at the beam transportation line.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: ATF, earthquake, KEK, test beam
26 May 2011Image: Nobu TogeAfter repairing some hardware components that were broken in the earthquake of 11 March, the recovery work at ATF is now focusing on fixing the overall hardware alignment using an optical survey technique. This will be followed by recovery of the cooling water, excitation of the magnet and the radiofrequency power, and test beam operation later this month and toward summer 2011.
Category: Image of the week | Tagged: ATF, earthquake, KEK
Toshiaki Tauchi | 17 March 2011A huge 9.0-magnitude earthquake descended on us at about 14:46 on 11 March 2011 Japan standard time. The ATF (accelerator test facility) was operating for ATF2 beam-tuning and we were going to have a background study for the interaction point beam size monitor.
Category: Feature | Tagged: ATF, ATF2, earthquake, Japan, KEK
Rika Takahashi | 30 September 2010On 27 September, the Japan's local winners of the first Global Particle Photo Walk were announced. This Photowalk was held at five particle physics laboratories in the world on 7 August (see Feature Story this week). The winning photo taken by Yuki Hayashi features scientists working at the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) at KEK. But they are not Japanese scientists. They are three of the nine French scientists and engineers who were visiting the ATF from the end of July to install and test their four-mirror optical cavity.
Category: Feature | Tagged: ATF, Japan, photography, photowalk
12 August 2010Every day, KEK welcomes scientists and students from around the world. Some of them come here as collaborators who work on the international projects and programmes using cutting-edge facilities at KEK. Some visit as users who wish to use the beamlines at the Photon Factory to look into the smallest worlds. Many graduate students will write up their hard work here into their thesis. Many of them stay only days or weeks, but some of them stay longer to concentrate on the R&D for months or even years, like Dr. Philip Bambade from LAL in Orsay, France.
Category: Feature | Tagged: ATF, ATF2, Japan, KEK
Rika Takahashi | 12 November 2009In late October, the fast kickers at the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) at KEK have successfully kicked the beam bunches in 5.6 nanoseconds. Conditioning these bunches is the job of the damping rings, and the kicker system is one of the crucial technologies which hold the key of the damping ring performance.
Category: Feature | Tagged: ATF, KEK, kicker
27 August 2009At the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) at KEK, researchers around the world are testing the feasibility of their accelerator techniques. Because the ILC beams are very small, very accurate and precise beam diagnostic measurements are required. Physicists from Notre Dame University, US, and Oxford University, UK, visited ATF2 in July to make tests relevant to beam diagnostic measurement.
Category: Feature | Tagged: ATF, beam diagnostic, KEK, Notre Dame University, Oxford University, United Kingdom, United States
22 January 2009A new beamline for R&D toward nano-meter electron beam has started operation at KEK's Accelerator Test Facility - ATF. This new beamline, called ATF2, is an extension of ATF, and the focus of the research there will be on establishing the technologies for creation and control of a nano-meter-sized electron beam.
Category: Feature | Tagged: ATF, ATF2, KEK