An interdisciplinary team of researchers has built the first prototype of a miniature particle accelerator that uses terahertz radiation instead of radio frequency structures. A single accelerator module is just 1.5 centimetres long and one millimetre thick. The terahertz technology holds the promise of miniaturising the entire set-up by at least a factor of 100, as the scientists surrounding DESY's Franz Kärtner from the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) point out.
They are presenting their prototype, that was set up in Kärtner's lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S., in the journal Nature Communications. The authors see numerous applications for terahertz accelerators, in materials science, medicine and particle physics, as well as in building X-ray lasers. CFEL is a cooperation between DESY, the University of Hamburg and the Max Planck Society.
"This is not a particularly large acceleration, but the experiment demonstrates that the principle does work in practice," explains co-author Arya Fallahi of CFEL, who did the theoretical calculations. "The theory indicates that we should be able to achieve an accelerating gradient of up to one gigavolt per metre." This is more than ten times what can be achieved with the best conventional accelerator modules available today. Plasma accelerator technology, which is also at an experimental stage right now, promises to produce even higher accelerations, however it also requires significantly more powerful lasers than those needed for terahertz accelerators.
There is an abstract available.
What would you do with a desktop particle accelerator?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @12:19PM
i cant w/o xkcd
plz give oblig xkcd
(Score: 4, Funny) by kurenai.tsubasa on Wednesday October 07 2015, @01:19PM
Very well. As you wish.
https://xkcd.com/401/ [xkcd.com]
(Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday October 07 2015, @01:59PM
Nice one, I only found this [xkcd.com] remotely related one (it's mainly about simplepedia [wikipedia.org])
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 1) by Stardaemon on Wednesday October 07 2015, @12:20PM
What would you do with a desktop particle accelerator?
I haven't used on in a long while myself, and have no desire to do so again.
If no one wanted it, I'd probably send it of to be recycled, or otherwise properly disposed of.
They tend to contain a fair amount of lead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @12:26PM
Take it to your leader.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Wednesday October 07 2015, @04:21PM
Apparently you don't have to lead the little ones so much (Full Metal Jacket quote)...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 07 2015, @12:23PM
Create desktop black holes, what else; no seriously, somebody needs to look into them, for too long they hide in the distance.
Mmmm...maybe, occasionally, one or two Higgs boatswains?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by BananaPhone on Wednesday October 07 2015, @01:55PM
Nah, You build your own REAL proton pack.
As long as it gives a great light show in the dark, you'll win the costume contest EVERY Halloween.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday October 07 2015, @05:07PM
Either that or you can vaporize the competition.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday October 07 2015, @12:33PM
What would you do with a desktop particle accelerator?
Won't be much, at a billion volts/meter given the dimensions and likely efficiency the beam current will have to be less than a billionth of a volt. I'm sure lower accelerations are possible.
Would be amusing to see a revival of CRT technology.
A really hard xray source would be handy for hand held-ish x-ray metallurgical inspection, if its cheap enough.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 08 2015, @04:36AM
> the beam current will have to be less than a billionth of a volt
Voltage is a measure of potential; amp is a measure of current.
In other news, my table is 2 Joules high.
(Score: 1) by Frost on Thursday October 08 2015, @08:53AM
What would you do with a desktop particle accelerator?
Accelerate desktop particles. Duh!