Particle accelerators

Agen-689
Advances in Food Engineering
Accelerators
 Accelerators solve two problems for
physicists:
 Since all particles behave like waves, physicists use
accelerators to increase a particle's momentum, thus
decreasing its wavelength enough that physicists
can use it to poke inside atoms.
 The energy of speedy particles is used to create
the massive particles that physicists want to study
How do accelerators work?
 Basically, an accelerator takes a particle,
speeds it up using electromagnetic fields,
and bashes the particle into a target or
other particles

Surrounding the collision point are
detectors that record the many pieces of the
event.
How to obtain particles to
accelerate?
 Electrons: Heating a metal causes electrons to be
ejected.
 A television, like a cathode ray tube, uses this
mechanism.

 Protons: They can easily be obtained by

ionizing hydrogen.
 Antiparticles: To get antiparticles:
 first have energetic particles hit a target.

 Then pairs of particles and antiparticles will be

created via virtual photons or gluons.

 Magnetic fields can be used to separate them.

Accelerating particles
 Accelerators speed up charged particles by
creating large electric fields which attract or
repel the particles.
 This field is then moved down the
accelerator, "pushing" the particles along.
Accelerating particles
 In a linear accelerator the field
is due to traveling
electromagnetic (E-M) waves.

 When an E-M wave

hits a bunch of particles,
those in the back get the
biggest boost, while those in
the front get less of a boost.

 In this fashion, the particles

"ride" the front of the E-M
wave like a bunch of surfers.
Accelerator design
 There are several different ways to design these
accelerators, each with its benefits and drawbacks.
 Fixed target: Shoot a particle at a fixed target.

 Colliding beams: Two beams of particles are

made to cross each other.
Accelerator design
 Accelerators are shaped in one of two ways:
 Linacs: Linear accelerators, in which the particle
starts at one end and comes out the other.

 Synchrotrons: Accelerators built in a circle, in

which the particle goes around and around and
around...
Fixed target experiment
 A charged particle such as
an electron or a proton is
accelerated by an electric
field and collides with a
target, which can be a solid,
liquid, or gas.
 A detector determines the
charge, momentum, mass,
etc. of the resulting
particles.
Fixed target experiment
 An example of this
process is Rutherford's
gold foil experiment, in
which the radioactive
source provided high-
energy alpha particles,
which collided with the
fixed target of the gold
foil.
 The detector was the
zinc sulfide screen.
Colliding beam experiments
 Two beams of high-energy
particles are made to cross
each other.
 The advantage of this arrangement
is that both beams have significant
kinetic energy, so a collision
between them is more likely to
produce a higher mass particle
than would a fixed-target collision
(with the one beam) at the same
energy.
 Since we are dealing with
particles with a lot of
momentum, these particles
have short wavelengths and
make excellent probes.
Colliders  Einstein's famous equation E=mc 2
tells us that energy and mass are
equivalent.
 Thus the energy of a particle beam
can convert into mass, creating a
fascinating wealth of additional
particles, many of them highly
unstable and not normally found in
nature.
 However if the incoming beam is
simply slammed into a stationary
target, much of the projectile energy is
taken up by the target's recoil and not
exploitable.
 Much more energy is available for the
production of new particles if two
beams traveling in opposite directions
are collided together.
How they work?
 something to accelerate
the particles,
 something to bend
them,
 something to focus
them,
 a vacuum for them to
travel through
 plus something to
house the whole lot
The basic principles
 All particle beams start from a particle source.
 The simplest source is a hot wire, like the filament inside a light
bulb.
 This is the kind of source used by television sets.
 Negatively charged electrons boil off the wire, and accelerate in a
vacuum towards and through a positively charged electrode.
 Electromagnetic fields then sweep the beam across the screen.
 The points where the beam strikes the screen glow, building up a
picture.
 A similar filament is also used in a linear electron accelerator
 Linacs accelerate particles to much higher energies than a
television, but the principle is the same.
 In a linac, particles accelerate from one electrode to the next,
gaining energy with each one they pass.
 Television
 Televisions use the same
principles as LINAC, but on a
much smaller scale.
 Televisions and particle
accelerators have a lot in
common:
 a particle source
 accelerating electrodes
(televisions have one,
accelerators have many
more)
 electromagnetic fields to
deflect the particles...
 a particle detector (in a
television, this is the screen)
Basic components
 Accelerating component
 Bending component
 Focusing components
 The race track
The accelerating component:
The cavity
 Charged particles receive the
energy needed to reach a
speed close to that of light
from sophisticated
accelerating cavities like the
one illustrated here.
 These cavities store up
electrical energy, transferring a
small amount to the particles
each time they pass.
 They act like a short section
of linear accelerator.
The bending component: The
dipole magnet
 Magnets called dipoles
are used to keep the
particles moving in a
circle.
 Each time more energy
is pumped into the
particles, the magnetic
field has to be increased
to prevent
them from skidding off
the ring.
The focusing component: The
quadrupole and sextupole
 Other magnets,
called quadrupoles
and sextupoles, are
used to keep the
particles tightly
packed within the
beam.
 They work in much
the same way as
lenses do with light.
 The race track: The vacuum
chamber
 In particle accelerators,
to ensure that particles
are not lost by colliding
with molecules of air,
they travel inside a pipe,
from which all the air
has been removed.
 Vacuum
pumps all around the
ring ensure
that there is even
less
matter inside the beam
pipe than there is in
outer space.
The Large Electron Positron
accelerator
 The LEP is a collider.
 Its 3368 magnets bend two particle
beams and keep them on orbit.
 Where negatively charged electrons
bend one way, positively charged
positrons bend the other.
 This allows LEP to circulate 90 GeV
beams of electrons and positrons in
opposite directions using the same
magnets.
 The Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS),
uses the same technique to circulate
protons in one direction and anti-
protons in the opposite direction.
Charged particles accelerators
 To induce nuclear reactions with
positively charged particles (protons,
alpha)
 Particles must have sufficient KE to
overcome the barrier created by the
repulsion between the positive charges of
the particles and the nucleus
Charged particles accelerators
 To achieve higher KE the particles have to be
ionized
 These ions can be accelerated through a
potential difference thus acquiring some
additional KE
 To obtain the desired KE:
 Production of the charged particles
 Acceleration thru the required potential
difference
Ion source – the principle
 A gas
is bombarded H2
Gas

by energetic
B
B1 3
Hot B2
electrons Filament
e
Beam
anode

cathode
 The atoms of the
gas are ionized S
1

 Positive ions are S

2

produced vacuu
m

H+
Ions
 Ion source – the principle
 H2 flows into region above H2
filament Gas
B
 Electrons are accelerated to an B1 3
Hot B2
anode (dV over B1-B2 = 100 Filament
e
Beam
anode
V)
cathode
 Electrons passage thru the
gas cause ionization S
 Positive ions are extracted by 1

attraction to a negative S
2
electrode (dV over S1-S2 = 1-
vacuu
10 kV) into the accelerator m
region
 Vacuum at beam extraction H+
is 10-4 Pa, ionization area 10- Ions
2 Pa
Single-stage accelerators
 Developed by Cockcroft-Walton - 1932
 The total potential produced from a high-
voltage generator is imposed across the
accelerator
 Between the source and the target
Single-stage accelerator
 Principles
 The total potential produced from high
voltage generator is imposed between the ion
source and the target
 The KE of the particle is:

Ekin  nqV
# stages =1 Potential across acceleration gap

Charge of accelerated ions, C

Single-stage accelerator
 Recently, small versions of the Cockcroft-Watson accelerator
 Transformer-rectifier accelerators
 Used for acceleration of electrons or acceleration of deuterons for
production of neutrons:
3
H  2H  4He  n
1 1 2

 Tritium targets are bombarded by accelerated deuterons

 Tunneling of the Coulomb barrier results in good yield for this
reaction (even for 0.1 MeV)
Single-stage accelerators
 D2 molecules leak thru a
heated palladium foil D2
Accelerato
r tube
Gas
into the vacuum of the Concentric
ion source electrodes

 There high frequency target

electric field Ion Particle
source path
decomposed the D2
molecules to form D+1 100
kV magnet
ions and electrons +<3
kV
Radio vacuum Cooling
 Ions are extracted with frequenc
+100
kV water

low negative potential y Electron

to enter the acceleration High voltage

generator
extractor

tube with
2.5 keV KE
Single-stage accelerators
 The 100 kV is obtained
from a transform and D2
Accelerato
r tube
Gas
rectifier unit coupled to a Concentric
set of cylindrical electrodes electrodes

connected by a resistor target

chain Ion Particle
source path
 The beam particles exit the
last electrode and drift thru 100
kV magnet
a short tube and strike the +<3
kV
target (titanium with Radio +100 vacuum
frequenc kV Coolin
absorbed tritium) y g
water
 The target is cooled by High voltage
Electron extractor
generator
water to minimize tritium
evaporation
Single-stage accelerators
 With 100 keV and 0.5 mA
 This accelerator can Accelerato
D2
r tube
produce 1010 n/s with 14 Gas
Concentric
MeV electrodes
 Can reduce KE to thermal
target
values (0.025 eV) by Ion Particl
placing water or paraffin source e path
around the target
100
 Flux of thermal neutron = kV
+<3
magnet
108 n/cm2 kV
Radio +100 vacuum
 Production rate of neutrons frequenc kV Coolin
g
increases as the beam y
water
energy and beam current High voltage
generator Electron extractor
increases
Van de Graaf accelerators (VdG)
 Developed by van de Graaf in 1931
 Can provide beams of higher energy than
the single-stage C-W accelerators
 The tandem-VdG can produce 20 MeV
protons and 30 MeV -particles
 VdG can also accelerate electrons and
positive ions of higher Z
Van de Graaf accelerators (VdG)
 A rapidly moving belt
accumulates positive charge as
it passes an array of sharp
spray points Steel
tank
 Which transfer electrons target
Insulating
from the belt to the spray supports Ion
sourceA
points pulle
y
Accelerating pulle
tube
+ +++- + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + y
 The positive charge on the belt E1
+ + + +E2++
b e lt

is continuously transferred by
Removable
the movement of the belt away lid
from the ground
Van de Graaf accelerators (VdG)
 At the high-voltage terminal, (a
hollow metal sphere) another
set of spray points neutralize
the charges on the belt by Steel
tank
electrons emitted from the target
Insulating
spray points supports Ion
sourceA
 This results in positive pulle
y
Accelerating pulle
tube y
charge to the sphere + +++- + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
E1 b e lt
+ + + +E2++
 The continuous process of
Removable
transferring positive charge to lid
the sphere can built a high
potential on the sphere
Van de Graaf accelerators (VdG)
 The limit of the voltage that
can be accumulated in the
hollow electrode is determined
by the discharge potential to Steel
the surrounding housing tank
target
 If it is insulated by some Insulating
supports Ion
pressurized gas (N2, CO2 of sourceA
pulle Accelerating
SF6) about 16 MV can be y tube
pulle
y
+ +++- + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
achieved E1
+ + + +E2++
b e lt

 This can be used to accelerate

Removable
protons to energy of about 15 lid
MeV in a single stage
Van de Graaf accelerators (VdG)
 The energy of the beam produced by the
VdG generator is extremely precise
 The current (10-100 A) is less than
that of other accelerators
 The beam current i (A) is:
Net charge of the
beam particle

i  qIo  ezIo
Incident particle current (particles/s)
Particle charge (C)
Multi-stage accelerators
 The potential obtained from a high
voltage generator can be used repeatedly
in a multi-stage accelerator process
 The linear accelerator operates in this
principle
Wideroe Multi-stage
accelerators
 The accelerator tube consists of a
series of cylindrical electrodes
– drift tubes
Ion
 The electrodes are coupled to a source Vacuum L Drift
tube
radio frequency generator chamber n

 The high voltage generator target

n-1 n n+
gives a maximum voltage V 1
 The voltage is applied to the
electrodes by the RF so that the
electrodes alternate in the sign of
A B ~
the voltage at a constant frequency V
RF
oscillator
Wideroe Multi-stage
accelerators
 If the particles arrive at the
gap between electrodes in
proper phase with the radio
Ion
Drift
frequency, the particles are source Vacuum L
tube
chamber n
accelerated across the gap
target
 They receive an increase ion n-1 n n+
1
energy of qV (for n
electrodes = nqV)
 Inside the drift tubes no
acceleration takes place A B
V
~
RF
oscillator
LINA
CIselectrons,
 a particle accelerator which accelerates charged particles -
protons or heavy ions - in a straight line.
 Charged particles enter on the left and are accelerated towards the
first drift tube by an electric field.
 Once inside the drift tube, they are shielded from the field and drift
through at a constant velocity.
 When they arrive at the next gap, the field accelerates them again
until they reach the next drift tube.
 This continues, with the particles picking up more and more energy in
each gap, until they shoot out of the accelerator on the right.
 The drift tubes are necessary because an alternating field is
used and without them, the field would alternately accelerate
and decelerate the particles.
 The drift tubes shield the particles for the length of time that the field
would be decelerating.
Cyclotons
 The cyclotron is a
particle accelerator
conceived by Ernest O.
Lawrence in 1929, and
developed, with this
colleagues and students
at the University of
California in the 1930s.
Cyclotons
A Cyclotron
 Consists of two large dipole
magnets designed to produce a
semi-circular region of uniform
magnetic field, pointing
uniformly downward.
 These are called Ds because of
their D-shape.
 The two D's are placed back- to-
back with their straight sides
parallel but slightly separated.
A Cyclotron
 An oscillating voltage is
applied to produce an electric
field across this gap.
 Particles injected into the
magnetic field region of a D
trace out a semicircular path
until they reach the gap.
 The electric field in the gap
then accelerates the particles as
they pass across it.
A Cyclotron
 The particles now have higher
energy so they follow a semi-
circular path in the next D with
larger radius and so reach the
gap again.
 The electric field frequency must
be just right so that the direction
of the field has reversed by their
time of arrival at the gap.
 The field in the gap accelerates
them and they enter the first D
again.
A Cyclotron
 Thus the particles gain energy as
they spiral around.

 The trick is that as they speed up, they

trace a larger arc and so they always
take the same time to reach the gap.

 This way a constant frequency electric

field oscillation continues to always
accelerate them across the gap.

 The limitation on the energy that

can be reac hed in such a device
depends on the size of the magnets
that form the D's and the strength of
their magnetic fields.