At the ILC, roughly 16,000 superconducting RF cavities made of pure niobium will accelerate electrons and positrons to the high energy of 500 GeV. Each one-metre-long cavity consists of nine cells, polished to provide micrometre-level surface smoothness and absolutely no impurities. The inside of the cavities need to literally sparkle since any surface blemishes or […]
A horizontal challenge
The world’s first horizontal multi-beam klystron has started its site acceptance test at DESY. Built by the Japanese company Toshiba, it is the first of three prototypes from different companies to arrive for the test that will determine whether the new klystron design works. The 10-megawatt horizontal klystron was developed for the European X-ray Free […]
New year – new office
Director’s Corner 29 November 2007 Kaoru Yokoya New year, new office Today’s issue features a Director’s Corner from Kaoru Yokoya, Accelerator Leader for the Global Design Effort. “If you talk about next year, devils will laugh at you.” This is a Japanese saying that corresponds to the English saying, “Don’t count your chickens before they’re […]
Building Understanding
Every month, a lot of Asian researchers come to KEK to conduct their research or experiments. “We have had 45 visitors for fiscal year 2007 so far, including ten Korean researchers,” says Tomiko Shirakata, secretary at KEK’s Linear Collider Project Office. Shirkata is in charge of KEK’s visitors programme activities and provides all visitor supports […]
A night of wonder
Men and women wearing gaudy dresses, looking for customers under garish neon signs – this is a common sight in Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku, a famous entertainment and red-light district in Tokyo, Japan. Walking down an alleyway that has countless bars and nightclubs, you will see a hand-written sign posted on the billboard of a shabby building […]
Mapping a magnet
Three pairs of eyes cast one last look around the room. Have all scissors, ladders, metallic tables been removed? No pins or pens lying around anymore? Once the team is sure that nothing is left in the area, they close the security doors and give the go-ahead – the magnet that has been to space […]
Akira Yamamoto – A man of calm and expressions
Director’s Corner 12 July 2007 Mitsuaki Nozaki Akira Yamamoto: A man of calm and expressions Today’s issue features a Director’s Corner from Mitsuaki Nozaki, GDE Asian Regional Director. “He is an active person who enjoys mountain climbing and jogging as hobbies. Well, at least he used to in the past. Now his hobby is physics,” […]
Collaborating for the beam
When the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) group at KEK decided to upgrade their beam position monitor system in 2005, Marc Ross had a solution. Based at SLAC at the time, he was a longtime collaborator with KEK and familiar with the instrumentation systems used throughout Fermilab’s accelerator complex. In 2006, Ross became the head of […]
KEK and Fermilab: Strengthening collaborations
Director’s Corner 26 April 2007 Barry Barish KEK and Fermilab: Strengthening collaborations Two of our principle collaborating institutions in the ILC are KEK Laboratory in Tsukuba, Japan and Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois. This week the KEK Director General, Atsuto Suzuki, came to Fermilab to discuss increased collaboration. Atsuto Suzuki is a very distinguished physicist, whom I […]
STF – Getting ready for the experience
An important prerequisite for building the ILC is to establish the design and manufacturing of major and vital components, such as cryomodules for the main linacs through realistic operating conditions. The Tesla Test Facility (FLASH) at DESY and Fermilab’s ILC Test Area have been pursued to play critical roles in the European and American regions […]