Toshiaki Tauchi | 24 February 2011Two periods dedicated to beam tuning and beam size studies at KEK's Accelerator Test Facility ATF2, built to test the ILC's final focus system, have brought researchers a step closer to achieving the ILC's demanding beam parameters. Executive Committee member Toshiaki Tauchi reports on the studies.
Category: Director's Corner | Tagged: ATF2, beam monitor, beam size, beam tuning, KEK
Min Zhang | 6 January 2011From 7 to 8 December 2010, the IHEP-KEK 1.3-gigahertz superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) technology collaboration meeting was held at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. This was the third in a series of meetings held regularly since 2009. Eight high-energy accelerator experts from KEK and Kyoto University and nearly thirty researchers from IHEP participated.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: 1.3 GHz, IHEP, IHEP-02, KEK, SRF technology
Rika Takahashi | 9 December 2010Designing and fabricating an optimal accelerating cavity is not so simple. There are two important parameters scientists are looking for: the gradient of 35 megavolts per meter (MV/m) and the quality factor (Q0) of greater than 0.8×10^10. A Japanese cavity now fulfilled those requirements for the first time at a test which took place at the Superconducting radiofrequency Test Facility (STF) at KEK, adding momentum towards future mass production.
Category: Feature | Tagged: accelerating gradient, cavity gradient, KEK, Kyoto camera, nine-cell cavity, quality factor, STF
Leah Hesla and Rika Takahashi | 28 October 2010Fermilab and KEK scientists recently hooked up a new cavity tuning system to the various cavities in the so-called cavity-tuner zoo at KEK. This zoo, comprising eight superconducting radiofrequency cavities fabricated by four different vendors from three different regions, was the testing ground for a new development in what is called Lorentz force detuning (LFD) compensation.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: Fermilab, KEK, LFD compensation, Lorentz force detuning
2 September 2010About 90 students from all parts of Japan gathered at the Summer Challenge programme held at KEK, Tsukuba from 21 to 29 August 2010. Starting in 2007, this programme intended for junior students who are interested in high-energy physics was the fourth in the series this year.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: KEK, Summer Challenge programme
Leah Hesla | 26 August 2010Achieving resonance in a scientific collaboration is no small feat, but scientists at Fermilab, DESY and KEK have come together to do exactly that: They've improved the mechanism that keeps superconducting radio frequency cavities in tune.Members of Fermilab's Technical Division and DESY staff, with financial assistance from KEK, recently built four new tuning machines that set SRF cavities to the correct frequency and alignment. More highly automated than their predecessors, the machines save time and labor and ensure greater consistency in RF cavity quality. They work by squeezing or stretching individual cells in a nine-cell cavity and allowing all of them to perform identically and impart the same acceleration to the beam.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: cavity, DESY, Fermilab, KEK, SRF technology, tuning machine
Leah Hesla | 12 August 2010Last May, in only two weeks' time, a team of Accelerator Division Instrumentation Department employees installed, powered, debugged and started up a brand new, home-made beam position monitoring system at KEK's Accelerator Test Facility. It worked flawlessly.
Category: Around the World | Tagged: Fermilab, KEK
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
