Particle beam
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A particle beam is a stream of charged or neutral particles. In particle accelerators, these particles can move with a velocity close to the speed of light. There is a difference between the creation and control of charged particle beams and neutral particle beams, as only the first type can be manipulated to a sufficient extent by devices based on electromagnetism. The manipulation and diagnostics of charged particle beams at high kinetic energies using particle accelerators are main topics of accelerator physics.
Sources
- Ion source
- Cathode ray tube, or more specifically in one of its parts called electron gun. This is also part of traditional television and computer screens.
- Photocathodes may also be built in as a part of an electron gun, using the photoelectric effect to separate particles from their substrate.[1]
- proton beams which impact on a target, e.g. of beryllium material. (see article Particle therapy)
- Bursting a petawatt laser onto a titanium foil to produce a proton beam.[2]
Manipulation
Acceleration
Charged beams may be further accelerated by use of high resonant, sometimes also
More recently, plasma acceleration has emerged as a possibility to accelerate particles in a plasma medium, using the electromagnetic energy of pulsed high-power laser systems or the kinetic energy of other charged particles. This technique is under active development, but cannot provide reliable beams of sufficient quality at present.
Guidance
In all cases, the beam is steered with dipole magnets and focused with quadrupole magnets. With the end goal of reaching the desired position and beam spot size in the experiment.
Applications
High-energy physics
High-energy particle beams are used for particle physics experiments in large facilities; the most common examples being the Large Hadron Collider and the Tevatron.
Synchrotron radiation
) in order to probe and to characterize the structure and the chemical speciation of solids and biological materials.Particle therapy
Energetic particle beams consisting of
Astrophysics
Many phenomena in astrophysics are attributed to particle beams of various kinds.[3] Solar Type III radio bursts, the most common impulsive radio signatures from the Sun, are used by scientists as a tool to better understand solar accelerated electron beams.[4]
Military
The U.S.
See also
- Electron beam
- Ion beam
- Jet
- Atomic beam
- Accelerator neutrino
References
- ^ T. J. Kauppila et al. (1987), A pulsed electron injector using a metal photocathode irradiated by an excimer laser, Proceedings of Particle Accelerator Conference 1987
- ^ Petawatt proton beams at Lawrence Livermore
- . Retrieved 26 January 2023.
- S2CID 118446359.
- ^ a b Roberds, Richard M. (1984). "Introducing the Particle-Beam Weapon". Air University Review. July–August. Archived from the original on 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2005-01-03.