Fermilab, SLAC, JLab, Brookhaven, Argonne… these are all major players in particle physics and accelerator R&D. They are also the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) “national labs”. All national research labs came to Washington, D.C. on 20 April to show their work to members of Congress and other visitors. Pictured is Dick Durbin, Illinois senator, giving his address. DOE has […]
Study on technical feasibility
Since 2014, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has been conducting studies to gather information to decide whether Japan is interested in hosting the ILC. The summary report of the ILC Advisory Panel set up by MEXT for this purpose was outlined in the last edition of NewsLine. In addition […]
Jefferson Lab and IHEP renew accelerator cavity collaboration
Under the umbrella of the PRC-US Cooperation on High Energy Physics, Jefferson Lab and IHEP exchange notes on cavity R&D
At a recent meeting between US and Chinese high-energy and nuclear physics laboratories, Jefferson Lab in Newport News, US, and the Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEP) in Beijing, China, renewed a partnership to collaborate on the development of superconducting accelerator cavities, including an ILC-type nine-cell cavity. It is a continuation of a collaboration that […]
Understanding electron beam halos
Jefferson lab physicist aims to develop large dynamic range diagnostics for electron linacs
Some physicists joke about electrons, saying that you cannot collimate them, you can only make them angry. Collimation is the removal of low-intensity, high-amplitude particles from a particle beam, typically by absorption into a metal. These unwanted particles, which make up what’s known as the halo, could cause high backgrounds in collision data and wreak […]
Pushing the limits with high-voltage electron guns
Jefferson Lab’s electron gun group explores new designs for spin-polarised photoelectron guns
Opposites attract and like charges repel. This simple phenomenon explains why electron beams spread out over space and time, much to the dismay of physicists who need tight particle beams for collision experiments. To counter this phenomenon, known as space charge-induced emittance growth, the electron gun group at Jefferson Lab in the US is pushing […]
The 12-GeV upgrade of Jefferson Lab’s CEBAF accelerator
The US laboratory accelerator is doubling its electron beam energy to address forces at work in protons and neutrons
Why don’t quarks fly solo? Scientists have long observed that these particles, like Noah’s animals or instances of bad luck, always come in twos or threes. Yet nothing in the Standard Model of physics says quarks have to keep each other company. Scientists at Jefferson Laboratory in Newport News, US, will soon be uniquely positioned […]
Impersonating bulk niobium
Jefferson Laboratory scientists ionise niobium to make thin films that may outperform their bulkier sibling.
Superconducting radiofrequency power only runs skin-deep, and accelerator scientists have been taking advantage of the phenomenon’s surface-crawling tendencies with a view to making high-performing, low-cost accelerator cavities. The trick is to manipulate a metal’s top-most layer so that it conducts just like a thick slab of superconducting material. Scientists at Jefferson Laboratory in the US […]
Seamless cavity performance
Laboratories in the US begin to take a serious look at hydroforming as a method for creating ILC-type cavities.
Researchers in the US may soon be pumping their cavities into shape. Last year Fermilab scientists put out a call to industrial companies to propose a procedure for hydroforming ILC-type cavities. They hope that by next year, the selected company will provide Fermilab with three hydroformed nine-cell cavities for testing. “Hydroforming’s a good idea whose […]
Jefferson Lab’s rules for achieving spotless cavities
Depending on your household’s rules of cleaning, you may have learned about a “right way” to wash dishes: keep dishwater clean for as long as you can, cleaning glasses first, then silverware, then plates. Save the dirtiest wares, pots and pans, for last. Jefferson Lab technician James Davenport carefully inserts a cathode into an ILC […]
From Jefferson Lab News: ILC treatment of JLab cavity garners exciting result
For the last few years, Jefferson Lab staff members have used the lab’s unique facilities to test various accelerator components for a proposed next-generation collider, the International Linear Collider. Reminiscent of a stack of doughnuts, accelerator components called cavities energize particles for use in experiments that explore the smallest bits of matter. In preparing ILC […]