29 January 2009Something unwanted lurks within accelerator beam pipes around the world: stray electrons. This haze of electrons interacts with positron and proton beams, often causing distortion. Previous tests showed that an insert designed by SLAC researchers works well to capture stray electrons in an environment with no magnetic field. Now, recent tests carried out at the Japanese accelerator facility KEK confirm that a new insert can reduce this electron cloud effect in a magnetic field.
Category: Feature | Tagged: beam pipe, SLAC
22 January 2009A new beamline for R&D toward nano-meter electron beam has started operation at KEK's Accelerator Test Facility - ATF. This new beamline, called ATF2, is an extension of ATF, and the focus of the research there will be on establishing the technologies for creation and control of a nano-meter-sized electron beam.
Category: Feature | Tagged: ATF, ATF2, KEK
Rika Takahashi | 15 January 2009Toshihide Maskawa is one of the most popular public figures in Japan at the moment. He has charmed many Japanese people with his humour and pure passion for the science that he showed at the press conference after he won the 2008 Nobel prize in physics, together with Yoichiro Nambu, professor emeritus at Chicago University, and Makoto Kobayashi, honorary professor emeritus at KEK.
Category: Feature | Tagged: Japan, Nobel prize
Barry Barish | 8 January 2009The nature of modern scientific research has been changing due to the increased reliance on large-scale scientific facilities for forefront research. The programmes at our DOE National Laboratories have become focused more and more around large facilities and the programme of Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) has emerged as a very important part of the NSF research portfolio. The NSF programme began with physics and astronomy initiatives, but has expanded into other disciplines.
Category: Feature | Tagged: international collaboration, ITER, National Science and Technology Summit, NSF, research facilities
18 December 2008April is the best time to visit Japan – nice and warm weather, cherry blossoms and lively atmosphere of starting a new fiscal year – and of course, TILC09! A worldwide meeting of physicists on the ILC accelerator, experiments and theory to further the ILC's Technical Design Phase.
Category: Feature | Tagged: TILC09
Rika Takahashi | 11 December 2008The inner surfaces of the niobium cavities for the International Linear Collider have to be polished to literally sparkle, since the smallest defects, such as bumps, pits, welding flaws or human-induced scratches on them are considered to be dominantly responsible for the deterioration of the cavity performance and can even lead to quenches and field emission. Many techniques and technologies have been studied and developed already to address this challenge. At the end of November, the first prototype of a new gadget developed with different approach was delivered to KEK.
Category: Feature | Tagged: cavity, inner surface grinder
Barbara Warmbein | 11 December 2008When you have a set of new hardware and a clear mission ahead of you, the first step to complete the mission is to commission the hardware. After reconfiguring their storage ring and light source CESR, Cornell University and the international ILC team working on damping ring studies switched on the machine in early October and performed the first electron cloud studies in the low emittance configuration in November. “It was an intense week and we have some very interesting new data,” says Mark Palmer, CesrTA project manager.
Category: Feature | Tagged: CesrTA, Cornell University, damping ring, electron cloud
Perrine Royole-Degieux | 4 December 2008The International Detector Advisory Group (IDAG) met for the second time during the LCWS08 meeting which took place in Chicago two weeks ago. In a few days, they succeeded to converge on the strategy they will use to evaluate the ILC detectors concepts. At the end of March 2009, they will receive the Letters of Intent (LOIs) for the detector concepts and start reviewing them.
Category: Feature | Tagged: detector concepts, IDAG, LCWS08, letter of intent
4 December 2008This week SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory moves one step closer to producing an innovative new piece of the International Linear Collider. The first-generation model of a new design for equipment that helps power the accelerator is moving from the SLAC Power Conversion Department to End Station B, where it will undergo long-term testing.
Category: Feature | Tagged: marx modulator, SLAC
Rika Takahashi | 26 November 2008It has been hectic days for Makoto Kobayashi, Professor emeritus at KEK, since 7 October, the announcement of 2008 Nobel Prize in physics. Now that one month has passed, Kobayashi finally gets to settle down a little (or he has gotten used to keeping up with a demanding schedule), he shared his time to talk about the future of accelerator science with ILC NewsLine.
Category: Feature | Tagged: Japan, Nobel prize
