Synchrotron

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the synchrotron, a particle accelerator. For accelerators designed specifically to make use of synchrotron radiation, see synchrotron light source.
The first synchrotron to use the "racetrack" design with straight sections, a 300 MeV electron synchrotron at University of Michigan in 1949, designed by Dick Crane.

A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic

electronvolts
(TeV or 1012 eV).

The synchrotron principle was invented by Vladimir Veksler in 1944.[3] Edwin McMillan constructed the first electron synchrotron in 1945, arriving at the idea independently, having missed Veksler's publication (which was only available in a Soviet journal, although in English).[4][5][6] The first proton synchrotron was designed by Sir Marcus Oliphant[5][7] and built in 1952.[5]

Types

Several specialized types of synchrotron machines are used today:

  • A storage ring is a special type of synchrotron in which the kinetic energy of the particles is kept constant.
  • A
    linear accelerator
    (linac) and another synchrotron which is sometimes called a booster in this context. The linac and the booster are used to successively accelerate the electrons to their final energy before they are magnetically "kicked" into the storage ring. Synchrotron light sources in their entirety are sometimes called "synchrotrons", although this is technically incorrect.
  • A cyclic collider is also a combination of different accelerator types, including two intersecting storage rings and the respective pre-accelerators.

Principle of operation

The synchrotron evolved from the

relativistic mass of particles during acceleration.[8]

A drawing of the Cosmotron

In a synchrotron, this adaptation is done by variation of the magnetic field strength in time, rather than in space. For particles that are not close to the speed of light, the frequency of the applied electromagnetic field may also change to follow their non-constant circulation time. By increasing these parameters accordingly as the particles gain energy, their circulation path can be held constant as they are accelerated. This allows the vacuum chamber for the particles to be a large thin torus, rather than a disk as in previous, compact accelerator designs. Also, the thin profile of the vacuum chamber allowed for a more efficient use of magnetic fields than in a cyclotron, enabling the cost-effective construction of larger synchrotrons.[citation needed]

While the first synchrotrons and storage rings like the

radio frequency cavities for direct acceleration, dipole magnets (bending magnets) for deflection of particles (to close the path), and quadrupole / sextupole magnets for beam focusing.[citation needed
]

linac
.

The combination of time-dependent guiding magnetic fields and the strong focusing principle enabled the design and operation of modern large-scale accelerator facilities like colliders and synchrotron light sources. The straight sections along the closed path in such facilities are not only required for radio frequency cavities, but also for particle detectors (in colliders) and photon generation devices such as wigglers and undulators (in third generation synchrotron light sources).[citation needed]

The maximum energy that a cyclic accelerator can impart is typically limited by the maximum strength of the magnetic fields and the minimum radius (maximum

magnetic saturation. Electron/positron accelerators may also be limited by the emission of synchrotron radiation, resulting in a partial loss of the particle beam's kinetic energy. The limiting beam energy is reached when the energy lost to the lateral acceleration required to maintain the beam path in a circle equals the energy added each cycle.[citation needed
]

More powerful accelerators are built by using large radius paths and by using more numerous and more powerful microwave cavities. Lighter particles (such as electrons) lose a larger fraction of their energy when deflected. Practically speaking, the energy of electron/positron accelerators is limited by this radiation loss, while this does not play a significant role in the dynamics of proton or ion accelerators. The energy of such accelerators is limited strictly by the strength of magnets and by the cost.[citation needed]

Injection procedure

Unlike in a cyclotron, synchrotrons are unable to accelerate particles from zero kinetic energy; one of the obvious reasons for this is that its closed particle path would be cut by a device that emits particles. Thus, schemes were developed to inject pre-accelerated

Cockcroft-Walton generator.[citation needed
]

Starting from an appropriate initial value determined by the injection energy, the field strength of the dipole magnets is then increased. If the high energy particles are emitted at the end of the acceleration procedure, e.g. to a target or to another accelerator, the field strength is again decreased to injection level, starting a new injection cycle. Depending on the method of magnet control used, the time interval for one cycle can vary substantially between different installations.[citation needed]

In large-scale facilities

See also: List of accelerators in particle physics
Soleil near Paris
)

One of the early large synchrotrons, now retired, is the

transuranium elements, unseen in the natural world, were first created with this machine. This site is also the location of one of the first large bubble chambers used to examine the results of the atomic collisions produced here.[citation needed
]

Another early large synchrotron is the Cosmotron built at Brookhaven National Laboratory which reached 3.3 GeV in 1953.[12]

Among the few synchrotrons around the world, 16 are located in the United States. Many of them belong to national laboratories; few are located in universities.[citation needed]

As part of colliders

Until August 2008, the highest energy collider in the world was the

PeV.[citation needed
]

The largest device of this type seriously proposed was the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), which was to be built in the United States. This design, like others, used superconducting magnets which allow more intense magnetic fields to be created without the limitations of core saturation. While construction was begun, the project was cancelled in 1994, citing excessive budget overruns — this was due to naïve cost estimation and economic management issues rather than any basic engineering flaws. It can also be argued that the end of the Cold War resulted in a change of scientific funding priorities that contributed to its ultimate cancellation. However, the tunnel built for its placement still remains, although empty. While there is still potential for yet more powerful proton and heavy particle cyclic accelerators, it appears that the next step up in electron beam energy must avoid losses due to

TeV.[citation needed
]

As part of synchrotron light sources

See also: List of synchrotron radiation facilities

Synchrotron radiation also has a wide range of applications (see

GeV, respectively.[citation needed
]

Synchrotrons which are useful for cutting edge research are large machines, costing tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to construct, and each beamline (there may be 20 to 50 at a large synchrotron) costs another two or three million dollars on average. These installations are mostly built by the science funding agencies of governments of developed countries, or by collaborations between several countries in a region, and operated as infrastructure facilities available to scientists from universities and research organisations throughout the country, region, or world. More compact models, however, have been developed, such as the Compact Light Source.[citation needed]

Applications

See also

References

  1. S2CID 108427390
    .
  2. ^ "The Large Hadron Collider". CERN. 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
  3. ^ Veksler, V. I. (1944). "A new method of accelerating relativistic particles" (PDF).
    Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences de l'URSS
    . 43 (8): 346–348.
  4. ^ J. David Jackson and W.K.H. Panofsky (1996). "EDWIN MATTISON MCMILLAN: A Biographical Memoir" (PDF). National Academy of Sciences.
  5. ^ a b c Wilson. "Fifty Years of Synchrotrons" (PDF). CERN. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  6. ^ Zinovyeva, Larisa. "On the question about the autophasing discovery authorship". Retrieved 2015-06-29.
  7. PMID 11028988
    .
  8. S2CID 121370125
    .
  9. hdl:2027/mdp.39015086454124
    .
  10. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.88.1197
    .
  11. ^ US patent 2736799, Nicholas Christofilos, "Focussing System for Ions and Electrons", issued 1956-02-28 
  12. ^ The Cosmotron

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Synchrotrons.
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