Scientists compete for an audience’s approval by giving clear, fun and to-the-point presentations on topics in particle physics.
Applause-o-meters don’t lie. The 90-decibel-level reading of claps and cheers from the Eugene, Oregon audience indicated that the first-ever physics slam in the US was a hit. On 22 March, five physicists carried out an assignment to explain in plain and engaging language a topic in particle physics – in only twelve minutes. After all […]
Scientists complete the design of a crucial component of the ILC positron source, the flux-concentrating magnet.
A lot can happen in a millisecond. Major news agencies compete over milliseconds to be the first to publish breaking stories. In one millisecond, light travels from Geneva, Switzerland to Genoa, Italy. And for a magnet in the ILC positron source, a millisecond is the length of time it must remain strong enough to focus […]
Fermilab scientists develop a method of ultra-fine polishing for the interior walls of accelerating cavities.
Spatterings, pits, defects in weld beads – these are the thorns in the sides of many a newly minted accelerator cavity, marring their interior walls and getting in the way of healthy accelerating gradients. Scientists at Fermilab are testing a new method of removing these blemishes from superconducting radiofrequency cavities. It’s called centrifugal barrel polishing, […]
Taking on white papers and electron clouds, Mark Palmer brings his own energy to the CesrTA programme.
For many involved with the ILC, Mark Palmer exemplifies what it means to be a nexus. Palmer is the connection between the Cornell Electron-Positron Storage Ring Test Accelerator (CesrTA) programme – a prototyping project for the ILC damping ring – and the larger ILC community. Working with his team at home and taking their findings […]
ILC scientists develop a robust and reliable positron target
The ILC’s positron target is about to undergo tests of fortitude. Researchers with the Global Design Effort are developing a positron target for the ILC that can stay cool while producing about 1014 positrons per second for collisions with electrons. To accomplish that, it would have to withstand a barrage of photons, stave off feverish […]
An elegant powering scheme accommodates the ILC’s new one-tunnel design.
Though it doesn’t sound like a way to tidy up, the alliteratively named klystron cluster could be the mechanism that helps streamline the large-scale design of the ILC. Scientists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the US are currently developing the klystron cluster scheme, a new kind of power-delivery system for radiofrequency cavities that […]
The idea behind recycling is straightforward: reuse what you have to make more of the same. Applying this concept, however, is seldom simple. In the case of Cornell University’s Energy Recovery Linac (ERL), recycling energy to generate particle beams requires technological advancements that are born from decades of research. If scientists there fulfil their mission, […]
Lately, scientific communities are in need of higher-energy light particles. To do this, scientists are extending the existing technology of undulator magnets, or undulators. The device uses magnets to wiggle a particle beam into giving up light, which can then be used for a whole host of scientific applications. “Undulators are specialised beasts,” said Elizabeth […]
Scientists at the ILC who deal in matters positively charged have a new go-to guy: Wei Gai. This month, Gai assumes the role of the ILC’s Positron Technical Area Group Leader (Positron TAGL). He takes over the position from Jim Clarke at the Science & Technology Facilities Council/Daresbury Laboratory in the UK, who has given […]
Editor’s note: Watch a video of the installation of the first SRF cryomodule at Fermilab. At particle physics laboratories around the world, people have closely followed a much anticipated cooldown at Fermilab. Years of effort by more than 100 staff members at Fermilab have led to the cooldown of Cryomodule 1 at the laboratory’s SRF […]