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Author archive: Rika Takahashi

Attract a younger generation

| 24 January 2008 From 7 to 11 January, the first school on the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) technology was held at the China Center for Advanced Science and Technology (CCAST) in Beijing. Over 50 students, young scientists and senior researchers from Asia and the rest of the world gathered to learn and discuss about TPC Technology for the International Linear Collider. Category: Around the World | Tagged: ,

Podcasting the ILC

| 29 November 2007 Blogs, Social Network Services, Podcasting, Social Bookmarks -- these types of social media have become influential sources of information. Some might say that they have as much influential power as the conventional media. Scientists working on the International Linear Collider are catching on too and realise that podcasting is another way to promote the proposed project to a non-scientific audience. Category: Around the World | Tagged: ,

One world, one dream

| 15 November 2007 New expressways and subways are under construction. New hotels and apartment buildings are popping up. This city with a population of over 15 million people, which is already big enough, is getting ready for the coming year of increasing visitors who will attend the Olympic Games. This is Beijing. Category: Feature | Tagged: , , ,

An alternative with many applications

| 8 November 2007 The R&D for an ILC positron source using a laser-compton scheme is ongoing around the world. The efforts in Europe and Asia complement each other. In Europe, scientists are pursuing R&D for the laser path stacking cavity, a complicated, highly sophisticated system with four mirrors. In Asia, scientists aim to accumulate experience in gamma ray generation with simpler cavity structures. They also want to gain experience in installing these cavities into damping rings with high quality beams without degrading its quality. Category: Feature | Tagged: ,

Getting to know you – Research Director Sakue Yamada

| 4 October 2007 “My direct work with Sakue goes back to the early 80s. I was a PhD student at the PETRA electron-positron storage ring at DESY,” says Karlheinz Meier, Professor of the University of Heidelberg. He is also a member of the International Linear Collider Steering Committee, and he chaired the sub-committee to nominate the newly appointed Research Director Sakue Yamada. Category: Feature | Tagged: , ,

Kicking off a new phase

| 20 September 2007 Since their appointment in May, the three Global Design Effort Project Managers have been busy scheduling and planning the Engineering Design Report kick-off meetings. Since mid-August they have been touring the world for these meetings. Their purpose is, of course, to kick-start the engineering design phase of the International Linear Collider. During one of these recent meetings, from 10-14 September, the members of the ILC community gathered at KEK to discuss conventional facilities and siting, cryomodules and cryogenics. Category: Feature | Tagged: ,

Korea gets ready for the next-generation project

| 6 September 2007 “Daegu is exactly a one-hour drive away from Pohang. So I visit Daegu frequently, and vice versa, because people from Kyongpook National University come to Pohang,” said Won Namkung, professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Asian Linear Collider Steering Committee chair. These two cities, Daegu and Pohang, are the centres for Korean ILC R&D. Ever since one of the centres, the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL), a synchrotron light source facility in Korea, organised an ILC Task Force Team in 2004, the members have been working in various fields of study and have already achieved some milestones. Category: Feature | Tagged: , ,

Building Understanding

| 2 August 2007 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 such as arranging logistics, dealing with the consulate service for visa applications, and giving tips on how to spend days off in Japan. KEK launched the visitor programme in April 2006 aiming to facilitate the foreign researchers’ activities in Japan, especially for Asian researchers and students, who may have difficulties to conduct research overseas for some country-specific reasons. Category: Around the World | Tagged: , ,

A night of wonder

| 26 July 2007 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 that says, “The Accelerator’s Night 3.” Category: Around the World | Tagged: ,

Crabbing in the cavity

| 12 July 2007 What do superconducting cavities and the beach have in common? KEK accelerator physicists can give you the answer: the crab. During the spring operation period of the KEKB accelerator, scientists successfully achieved effective electron-positron collisions in a new cavity. Called the crab cavity, it tilts each bunch sideways so that the bunches collide head-on at the interaction point. This success will allow the KEKB to boost its luminosity, which is already the world’s highest for a B-factory, to an unprecedented level. Crab cavities will also play an important role in achieving high luminosities at other machines, including the International Linear Collider (ILC), upgrades for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, as well as future synchrotron light sources. Category: Feature | Tagged: , ,