Solid State Technology Meets Collider Challenge

Hazi, A

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

关键词: Linear Colliders;    Universe;    43 Particle Accelerators;    Elementary Particles;    Antimatter;   

DOI  :  10.2172/881666
RP-ID  :  UCRL-TR-215579
RP-ID  :  W-7405-ENG-48
RP-ID  :  881666

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

Probing the frontiers of particle physics and delving into the mysteries of the universe and its beginnings require machines that can accelerate beams of fundamental particles to very high energies and then collide those beams together, producing a multitude of exotic subatomic particles. The proposed Next Linear Collider (NLC), being developed by Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories, and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), is such a machine. The NLC is expected to produce a variety of subatomic particles by smashing together electrons and their antimatter counterparts (positrons) at nearly the speed of light with energies in the teraelectronvolt (TeV) range. Plans are that the NLC will initially operate at 0.5 TeV and ultimately be scaled up to 1.5 TeV. (See S&TR, April 2000, pp. 12-16.) Work at the facility will complement the research to be conducted at another high-energy particle accelerator, the 14-TeV Large Hadron Collider at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (commonly known by the acronym CERN from its former name) in Geneva, which is scheduled for completion in 2007. Achieving beam energy levels in the TeV range requires modulator systems that can convert ac line power--the same type of power one gets from the wall plug--into dc pulses. Ultimately, these pulses are transformed into radiofrequency (rf) pulses that ''kick'' the particles up to the required energy levels. Livermore scientists and engineers have designed a solid-state modulator to replace oldstyle modulators based on vacuum-tube technology. These new modulators promise to be far more efficient, reliable, and serviceable than the previous components. Livermore's Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program supported the basic research and development on the solid-state modulator technology, and SLAC supported the systems integration.