From fixing up furniture as a kid to testing particle accelerator components at the lab and woodworking in his garage, Dave Burk has a knack for solving problems with his hands.
accelerator
From Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, June 17, 2020: While COVID-19 risks had led to a temporary halt in fabrication work on high-power superconducting magnets built by a collaboration of three national labs for an upgrade of the world’s largest particle collider at CERN in Europe, researchers at Berkeley Lab are still carrying out some project tasks. Fermilab scientist Giorgio Apollinari, head of the U.S.-based magnet effort for the HL-LHC, is quoted in this piece.
Engineers from five countries are coordinating the design of the large cryomodules that will enable the new PIP-II accelerator at Fermilab to generate protons for the world’s most powerful beam of neutrinos, in support of the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.
Fermilab is currently upgrading its accelerator complex to produce the world’s most powerful beam of high-energy neutrinos. To generate these particles, the accelerators will send an intense beam of protons traveling near the speed of light through a maze of particle accelerator components before passing through metallic “windows” and colliding with a stationary target. Researchers are testing the endurance of windows made of a titanium alloy, exposing samples to high-intensity proton beams to see how well the material will perform.
Accelerator magnets — how do they work? Depending on the number of poles a magnet has, it bends, shapes or shores up the stability of particle beams as they shoot at velocities close to the speed of light. Experts design magnets so they can wield the beam in just the right way to yield the physics they’re after. Here’s your primer on particle accelerator magnets.
From Cold Facts, Sept. 17, 2019: Scientists at Fermilabhave achieved the highest magnetic field strength ever recorded for an accelerator steering magnet, setting a world record of 14.1 teslas, with the magnet cooled to 4.5 kelvin or minus 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory held the previous record of 13.8 teslas, achieved at the same temperature, for 11 years.
For the first time, a team at Fermilab has cooled and operated a superconducting radio-frequency cavity — a crucial component of superconducting particle accelerators — using cryogenic refrigerators, breaking the tradition of cooling cavities by immersing them in a bath of liquid helium. The demonstration is a major breakthrough in the effort to develop lean, compact accelerators for medicine, the environment and industry.
From Gizmodo, Sept. 13, 2019: Physicists at Fermilab have produced and tested a powerful magnet of the sort that could appear in the next generation of particle colliders. Fermilab scientist Alexander Zlobin talks with Gizmodo about the lab’s recent milestone achievement in reaching 14.1 teslas for a steering magnet.
From Tia Sáng, Sept. 13, 2019: Để xây dựng thế hệ máy gia tốc proton mới có khả năng gia tốc hạt lớn hơn, các nhà khoa học cần những nam châm mạnh nhất để có thể lái các hạt tới gần tốc độ ánh sáng lưu chuyển quanh một vòng tròn. Với một kích cỡ vòng tròn cho trước, để đưa năng lượng của chùm tia đạt mức cao hơn, các nam châm của máy gia tốc cần đạt được lực mạnh hơn để giữ cho chùm tia đi đúng hành trình của mình.
From KopalniaWiedzy.pl, Sept. 13, 2019: Naukowcy z Fermilab poinformowali o wygenerowaniu najsilniejszego pola magnetycznego stworzonego na potrzeby akceleratorów cząstek. Nowy rekord wynosi 14,1 tesli, a wynik taki uzyskano w magnecie schłodzonym do 4,5 kelwinów, czyli -268,65 stopnia Celsjusza. Poprzedni rekord, 13,8 tesli, został osiągnięty przed 11 laty w Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.