Barry Barish | 2 May 2013A key feature of the ILC is that it is a single-pass machine. In contrast to a circular accelerator, where the beam goes around many times, the ILC beams pass through each accelerator element only once, including the interaction point. For the accelerator, this means that for each accelerating module, the machine must be very efficient at transferring wall power into the machine beam, with the added requirement that the final beam must emerge with very low emittance so that it can be focused to the very tiny beam spot required to achieve high luminosity. The ATF-2 at KEK is a special test beam line that has been built to demonstrate the ability to achieve ILC-like namometre beam spots and stabilise them. Recent tests have demonstrated beam spots that are within a factor of two of the ILC design and promise to improve in the future.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: ATF2, beam spot size, final focus, KEK, PAC
Rika Takahashi | 4 April 2013On 15 March, scientists working on the Quantum Beam Technology Program at KEK’s superconducting RF test facility (STF) confirmed the successful generation of X-rays using Inverse Compton Scattering (ICS) with superconducting radiofrequency (SCRF) acceleration technology. This is the world’s first successful implementation of ICS X-ray sources with SCRF technology.
Category: Feature | Tagged: inverse compton scattering, KEK, Quantum Beam Project, technology transfer
Daisy Yuhas | 21 March 2013What makes the ILC beams far smaller than a human hair? A series of magnets referred to as the ‘final focus,’ designed to maximise chances of collision at the heart of the ILC detectors.
Category: LCpedia | Tagged: accelerator R&D, ATF2, KEK
Rika Takahashi | 6 September 2012Two little visitors at show off the souvenirs they received at KEK's open house, held on Sunday, 2 September. The girl on the right was very happy to find a "Higgs" in her toy capsule given away at the ILC exhibit. Visitor numbers have increased dramatically from last year's open house, probably due to a special kind of Higgs mechanism that attracts the general public to particle physics.
Category: Image of the week | Tagged: Higgs, ILC, Japan, KEK
Rika Takahashi | 23 August 2012The Japanese high-energy physics community has now published its recommendations in English. Their report strongly endorses two large-scale projects: an early realisation of a linear collider and a large-scale neutrino detector.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: Higgs, ILC Strategy Council, Japan, KEK, neutrinos
Kaoru Yokoya | 26 July 2012With the news of the Higgs, public interest in particle physics in general and the ILC in particular is at an all-time high. Kaoru Yokoya, Asian Regional Director, says that now is the time to foster this interest and find the next generation of particle physicists in Japan.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: Japan, KEK, outreach
Image: KEK | 12 April 2012KEK staff perform a facility disaster prevention and training at the accelerator test facility (ATF), recreating laboratory conditions in an emergency situation. One resourceful staff member flips open his cell phone for a light source.
Category: Image of the week | Tagged: earthquake, KEK
Rika Takahashi | 12 April 2012You may know Akira Yamamoto as an ILC Project Manager. Already head of KEK’s cryogenics science centre, he is now wearing a third hat for the next Japanese fiscal year, as he has just been appointed new head of KEK's Linear Collider Project Office.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: KEK
Rika Takahashi | 5 April 2012The ILC programme’s Nobu Toge has been appointed as one of KEK's five trustees. He began working with the linear collider in 1986, later joining the Global Design Effort in 2005. Toge will remain in the GDE directorate as a member of the editorial team for the Technical Design Report.
Category: Profile | Tagged: GDE, KEK
