Particle accelerators have been responsible for achieving some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in human history - CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland enabled scientists to discover the Higgs boson. While the LHC will continue to deliver ground-breaking science at CERN for years to come, physicists are already considering and planning for their next large scale research facility. One of the future particle accelerators that is being proposed is the Compact Linear Collider, or CLIC.
One of the key challenges faced when designing and building a next generation particle accelerator is energy consumption and the associated financial and environmental cost. A large portion of the energy requirements is in the flexible, tuneable electromagnets that are used to bend and focus the beam, which require a considerable amount of energy to operate. Engineers at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory have successfully designed and built a new type of energy-saving magnet, the Zero Power Tuneable Optics magnet (ZEPTO) that could power our next generation of particle accelerator at a fraction of the energy cost.
STFC’s Ben Shepherd, Head of Magnetics at Daresbury Laboratory, has been invited to present on this fascinating work at the opening session of the 11th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC 2020, in France early next year. IPAC is the main international event for the world-wide accelerator community and industry, attended by more than 1,500 participants every year. Ben’s talk, ‘Permanent Magnets in Accelerators’ will provide a fascinating overview of the design and development of the ZEPTO magnet. Hear more about Ben’s fascinating work:
Hear more about STFC’s Ben Shepherd’s fascinating work on the ZEPTO magnets
(Credit: STFC)
Two thousand years ago the heat of a volcano burned the contents of a library in the doomed Roman city of Herculaneum. Today, a team of researchers from the University of Kentucky, working at the UK and STFC’s x-ray synchrotron Diamond Light Source research facility, are using the light of a billion Suns to hopefully reveal the writing locked away within the ancient charred papyri.
A team of scientists working at the Central Laser Facility (CLF) have made a key breakthrough in understanding how a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii reproduces with its host. The parasite, which causes a disease called toxoplasmosis, can infect almost any warm blooded animal but must reproduce in cats, can control the behaviour of its host and is thought to infect as much as half the world’s human population.
On October 9, the 2019 Nobel Prize for chemistry was awarded to three scientists for their work in developing the technology upon which much of our modern world relies: the lithium ion (Li-ion) battery.
World Space Week got off to a great start at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, with 180 primary school pupils taking part in a Space Explorers Day on 4 October.
Particle accelerators have been responsible for achieving some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in human history - CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland enabled scientists to discover the Higgs boson.
Recently, STFC’s Hartree Centre at Daresbury Laboratory teamed up with Siemens, Invest Northern Ireland and Ulster University in its first steps towards increasing engagement with businesses in Northern Ireland.
Current placement students Churk, Neelam and Josie share their experiences of working at STFC.
A team of MRC Harwell researchers will be returning to STFC’s Central Laser Facility (CLF) in the autumn to investigate the properties of their innovative synthetic tissues.
Talking Science is back at Daresbury Laboratory, with the 2019/20 season of events having just been announced.
RAL Space scientists have been to Finland to test new methods of monitoring emissions of one of the major contributors to global warming.
Last updated: 28 October 2019
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