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)
Congratulations to Rachel Buckley, a leading technician at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, who has been made an Honorary Fellow by the Institute of Physics, its highest honour.
The world’s largest space incubation programme for space tech start-ups will extend to the new Space Park Leicester in the East Midlands, in a drive to support the vibrant, growing regional space clusters across the UK.
On August 14 last year, the US-based National Science Foundation's LIGO, part -funded by the STFC, and the European Virgo detector picked up a gravitational wave signal from the merger of two astronomical objects.
An update to the European Strategy for Particle Physics announced today will guide UK priorities in the coming years within the global research landscape. The key scientific priorities are the detailed study of the Higgs boson and the continued exploration of the high-energy frontier, both seen as two crucial and complementary ways to address the leading open questions in particle physics.
The UK’s space industry has received a major piece of new equipment to help get larger, more complex satellites ready for launch. A 16m long space test chamber, amongst the giants of Europe, has been installed in the UK’s National Satellite Test Facility in Oxfordshire
Council members play a critical role in UKRI’s strategy development and governance, working with their Executive Chair to deliver their council's aims and objectives and to support UKRI's overall mission.
In a plantation in the Brazil’s south eastern state of São Paulo, fintech start-up Trade in Space is pioneering the meshing of blockchain trading with satellite data – to drive efficiencies for growers to the end-user customer.
A new project supported by STFC aims to design and develop new radiotherapy technologies to give more cancer patients in Sub-Saharan Africa access to radiotherapy, and save lives.
Research carried out at STFC’s Hartree Centre could help reduce the cost and speed up the development of new types of drugs, such as for cancer therapies or new types of antibiotics. The research, which focuses on a specific type of peptide, could improve the way we treat diseases in the future.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has announced today that business development expert, Paul Vernon, will take the helm as the new Executive Director of Business and Innovation. He will play a critical role in helping STFC shape and deliver a business and innovation strategy.
Last updated: 28 October 2019
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