Ars Technica reports - New particle accelerator technology gets high speeds in short distances
The new technology, which could promise more compact particle accelerators, has just been described in a study in Nature. The study suggests that if bunches of electrons are passed through a short column of lithium vapor plasma in rapid succession, the electric field of the plasma is able to translate enough energy to accelerate particles hundreds of times more quickly than the LHC. It is able to achieve all this while only being 30cm in length.
Plasma is a state of matter where atoms are broken down into positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons. Most of the matter in the Sun exists as plasma, and we can create that state on Earth using high energy lasers.
The electric field between particles in a plasma can be extremely high. In this experiment, a bunch of high-energy electrons is sent through the plasma, causing the electrons of the plasma to move, leaving behind it a region of oscillating electrons. This oscillation generates a “wakefield” that can then be used to accelerate a second set of trailing electrons following closely behind the first bunch. A meter of plasma was sufficient to raise the electrons' energy by 1.6 Giga-electronVolts.
(Score: 2) by physicsmajor on Wednesday November 12 2014, @04:04AM
Posted November 7th, so we did beat Ars to the punch. The Ars article seems better than the super-hyped livescience article linked at the time, which I took a jab at in the comments.
http://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=14/11/07/1834245 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday November 12 2014, @06:09AM
Interesting in the ars FA:
I suppose the proton beam (higher particle mass/inertia) or lasers (higher power density) may produce the wake more efficiently than the first bunch of electrons (so even less bulky electron beam pre-accelerators).
Whoa there! Don't tell me they plan to replace 31 km long of vacuum with a 30 cm of a dense normal-matter plasma to accelerate antimatter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by monster on Wednesday November 12 2014, @03:12PM
Of course not, the antimatter would be standing innocently and they would accelerate the electrons against them, duh.
That, or they are already thinking of anti-plasma for the other half.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday November 12 2014, @04:55AM
"Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back."
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday November 12 2014, @08:22AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday November 12 2014, @01:17PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford