This summer the International Linear Collider made a debut in world famous “Comiket” Comic Market, held in Tokyo. Comike is the world’s largest comic convention with a history of over a quarter of a century, and is the hall of fame of the “Otaku” culture. More than half a million attendees came from all over […]
Federation beyond policy difference
A day before Japanese cabinet reshuffling, Diet members and other senior government officials took time out from their busy schedule to attend the inaugural meeting of newly formed “Federation of Diet members to promote the realisation of ILC” with a group with representatives from all political parties in Japan: Liberal Democratic party (LDP), Democratic party […]
Enjoying cool science
On the first day of a three-day weekend with a Japanese national holiday, Day of the Sea, about 300 people changed their destination from seaside to science. They enjoyed talks on cool science on a hot Saturday afternoon in Tokyo at a symposium called “Denshi-koraidah ga toku ucyu sousei no puzzle (Solving the puzzle of […]
New forum for promotion of advanced accelerator technology and scienceForum meets in Tokyo
On June 11, the executive officers of leading Japanese companies, important dignitaries, and a physics Nobel Prize winner gathered at Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, Japan to celebrate the establishment of a forum for promotion of advanced accelerator technology and science (official English name yet to be determined). The forum aims to develop the structure which will be […]
ATF shuts down for summer
On the last day of May, ILC scientists and engineers enjoyed a barbecue, sushi and Ton-jiru miso soup with pork and vegetables in front of the ATF (Accelerator Test Facility at KEK) container. This gathering, called the ATF end-of-run party, has been a routine event for over ten years. “We have this kind of party […]
Kamisama no Puzzle – Accelerator goes Japanese movie
Accelerators have featured in some movies, Terminator 3, for example. But people outside of the physics world did not notice much. In this summer, cult director Takashi Miike will make the accelerator quite visible in his newest film “Kamisama no Puzzle” (God’s Puzzle). Miike, who allegedly influenced Quentin Tarantino, is best known for his grotesque […]
Collaboration between India and Japan for SCRF technology
India’s Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT) is a leading institute for research and development in lasers, accelerators and their applications. In the Indian government’s current five-year plan (April 2007-April 2012), building infrastructure and developing the technology of niobium superconducting radiofrequency (SCRF) cavities are the two major objectives for high-energy physics and accelerator-related projects. […]
Polishing the safety standards
Superconducting cavities are the core, the heartbeat of the International Linear Collider. Their inside will be polished to literally make them sparkle without any speck of dust or crack because these could cause a decline of performance of the accelerator. There are several methods to polish the inside of the cavities, and electropolishing (EP) is […]
Meet Kazuko Toyomura
Kazuko Toyomura has been assisting KEK’s ILC activity for four years, and since Sakue Yamada was appointed as a Research Director last October, her involvement has become even deeper. “She is not ‘officially’ assigned as secretary for the International Detector Advisory Group (IDAG), but she has been taking care of my activities,” says Yamada. Toyomura […]
Looking inside
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 […]