News & Events
31 August 2010
16 August 2010
20 July 2010
9 July 2010
7 July 2010
7 July 2010
Visit to Max Lab
29 June 2010
ASTeC says farewell to Mike Poole
23 June 2010Leak
Detection Workshops
(10 & 23 June)
03
June 2010
EMMA Injection Magnet Module Installation
A key milestone for the construction of EMMA was successfully
achieved when the EMMA injection magnet module
was craned into position.
… read more » watch
construction movie »
02 June 2010
1st International Particle Accelerator Conference Kyoto, May 23-28
Paper Accepted for Publication in
Applied Physics Letters
"Upconversion of a relativistic Coulomb field Terahertz pulse
to the optical"
S.P. Jamison, G. Berden, P.J. Phillips, W.A. Gillespie, A.M.
MacLeod
Daresbury Table Tennis club
On Friday April 30th Susan Smith successfully captained a ladies table tennis team representing the Halton League in final of the Lancashire and Cheshire handicap competition, to win the Mabel Neary trophy. This is the first time that Halton has won the cup. The team captained by Susan included two associate members of Daresbury Table Tennis club.
27 April 2010
Cryogenics Training Report
27 April 2010
John Adams Institute Executive Meeting Report
26 April 2010
21
April 2010
12
April 2010
1st EUCARD Superconducting RF (SRF) Annual Review
ASTeC, Ready For Change
Andy Goulden, Peter McIntosh and Susan Smith from ASTEC, joined three other STFC managers on a three day “Change Management Foundation Level” course. The course explored ideas and principles that explain how individuals, teams and organisations go through change. These included a number of approaches, models and metaphors, which will help us through change initiatives. The workshop also tackled the question of how to lead change and consider styles of leadership that are helpful in times of change. The course is accredited by a professional accreditation group, APM Group, and having now successfully completed an exam all the candidates will receive a Certificate recognising their success. With the formation of the new accelerator centre on the near horizon and a number of other major changes taking place in ASTeC’s programmes, this is a very timely event.
30 March 2010
24
March 2010
Sport Relief Events Raise Over £600
22
March 2010
17
March 2010
16
March 2010
‘Particle Accelerators’ cause a Big Bang
9 March
2010
Future Light Sources Trip Report
2
March 2010
Success of 1st Vacuum Symposium UK and RGA9
meeting
held 10-11 Feb 2010
16 February 2010
ALICE detects spontaneous radiation from IR-FEL undulator
9
February 2010
1
January 2010
First Beam through the Free Electron Laser Narrow Gap Vessel
15 December
NLS Technical Advisory Committee
SET for BRITAIN
The Institute of Physics is again supporting SET for BRITAIN, a competition for early-stage researchers in all science and engineering disciplines which is being run by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee. The event will be a showcase for the work of young scientists and engineers, and it would be great to see a strong entry by physics researchers.
The attached letter of invitation from Doug Naysmith MP, chairman of the organising committee, gives more information and full details can be found on the website at www.SETforBRITAIN.org.uk. The closing date for entries is Friday 11 December. Successful entrants will have the opportunity to exhibit their work in the House of Commons on 8 March 2010, and monetary prizes are available for the winners in each category.
7 December
European Spallation Source
2, 3 & 4 December
EMMA commissioning workshop
A second EMMA commissioning workshop will be held in the Cockcroft Institute (Daresbury Laboratory) 2, 3 & 4 December 2009. The intention is to follow up on the previous workshop and go through the various contributions of the collaboration to the EMMA commissioning plans. The workshop will be preceded by a one-day mini-workshop on ZGOUBI (1st December) with a strong emphasis on how it is used to model the EMMA ring given that it has been chosen as the base code for the EMMA online model to be available in the control room. This mini workshop will also include a presentation on other applications of ZGOUBI, in particular, to spin dynamics, superB (used for example at RHIC or at the AGS). …more
30 November
European Synchrotron Light Sources Workshop, ESLS XVII
19 November
ALICE Installs infra-red Free Electron Laser (FEL)
16 November
12 November
![india-flag[1].jpg](news/images/india-flag[1].jpg "Indian Flag")
2 November
Neutrino Factory International Design Study Workshop
26 October
Outstanding Scientist of the Year
BANG goes the theory
The ASTeC vacuum science group supplied the Bell Jar used in the BBC science programme ‘BANG’ for the experiment ‘Silence’.
Please contact Joe Herbert for details.
FEL09
Almost 300 delegates descended on Liverpool in the last week of August to attend the 31st International Free Electron Laser conference which was organised by ASTeC and co-chaired by Mike Poole and Jim Clarke. The event was held in the new Arena and Convention Centre which was opened in 2008 as part of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture. The scientific programme contained many highlights with perhaps the most anticipated talk being the presentation of the results from the LCLS project on the first demonstration of an FEL in the X-ray regime.
download the conference poster »
download the programme »
Press release for FEL09
FEL09 Photos
2nd Manchester International Workshop
8 October 2009
16 September
NVEC Conference and CST User Group Meeting
9th September 2009
Cornell University Visit
As part of an International Collaboration for the development of a High Average Current Cryomodule, ASTeC RF Engineers spent a week at Cornell University in Up State New York to assist with the on-going fabrication, processing and testing of the Superconducting RF cavities. During the week, the cavities had completed the electron beam welding and were then transferred to a chemistry room. Here the cavities inside surface was chemically polished to improve the surface finish. The final stages required the cavities to be assembled in high class cleanroom conditions on to a test jig and submerged in a vacuum tank containing magnetic shielding, where the cavities were cooled to 2K ready for tests.
Due to the enhanced performance of the cavities, the structure had such a sharp resonance that the RF system was not capable of coupling and locking to the cavity in order to allow power to be transferred to the cavity. As a result of this, the tests had to be aborted in order to improve the resolution of the RF system.
EMMA Cavity RF System Tests
To fully validate the RF system, a section of the whole RF system was connected together and tested to high powers. For this 2 cavities were coupled together through a prototype hybrid waveguide section, powered by a CPI IOT. For these tests the RF drive was controlled through the Libera control system.
The RF cavities were conditioned up to 10 kW with no vacuum activity recorded, and subsequently both cavities were then driven simultaneously in order to evaluate the isolation of the waveguide system and to ensure that both cavities could be phase locked to within the operation specification.
The final system tests demonstrated 2 cavities controlled to within 0.0093o phase and 0.006% amplitude for a peak power of 10 kW, 5 kW equally split to each cavity. Since this is the most simplest configuration for the tests, once all 19 cavities are connected in the EMMA ring, a full demonstration of the RF control capabilities will have to be trialled. Figure X+5 below displays the phase and amplitude plot during the high power assessment.
IOT Output
Power |
Cavity 1 |
Cavity 2 |
||
Amp Stability (%) |
Phase Stability (º) |
Amp Stability (%) |
Phase Stability (º) |
|
3.3 |
|
|
0.008 |
0.008 |
5.0 |
|
|
0.007 |
0.0078 |
6.0 |
|
|
0.006 |
0.0082 |
7.2 |
0.006 |
0.0082 |
0.006 |
0.0083 |
10.0 |
0.007 |
0.003 |
0.006 |
0.0093 |
Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
4th July
“The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition has just closed, and I feel absolutely shattered, hoarse from talking, and yet strangely sad to see the end of such a fabulous week”, said Lee Jones as the public reluctantly began to leave the exhibition hall. The Royal Society held their annual Summer Science Exhibition last week (http://www.summerscience.org.uk/09/), and from 10:00 am on Tuesday June 30th until 5:00 pm on Saturday July 4th, there was a constant stream of interest from the public, school parties and the media.
L-R: Dr. Ricardo Bartollini a ,b,
Prof. Phil Burrows a,c, Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer (CERN
Director General), Prof. Emmanuelle Tsesmelis a,d, Ms.
Suzie Sheehy a,c, Dr. John Thomason a,
eca John Adams Institute; b Diamond Light Source; c University
of Oxford; d
CERN; a STFC ISIS
Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
30th June
On Tuesday June 30th, the annual Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition opens at the Royal Society in London. BBC News Link
(Left - Right)
Dr. Nicolas Delerue (Oxford University, John Adams Institute)
Dr. Lee Jones (STFC Daresbury Laboratory, ASTeC / Cockcroft Institute)
Ms. Suzie Sheehy (Oxford University, John Adams Institute)
Dr. Michelle Warren (Diamond Light Source)
Ms. Penny Jackson (Oxford University, John Adams Institute)
Daresbury Dash
16th June
Congratulations to all 44 who completed the 18th Daresbury Dash.
Keith Middleman's winning time was the 3rd fastest ever.
1st Keith Middleman (Middle), 2nd Mark Blackburn (Left), 3rd Joe Herbert (right)
Studying novel solar cell materials with terahertz time-domain spectroscopy at ALICE
27 May 2009, 14:00-15:30
Ben Spencer The University of Manchester
Abstract
Novel solar energy cells could be fabricated using semiconductor nanostructures, such as quantum dots (QDs), to rival current silicon solar cells. The efficiency of these nanostructures may benefit from the process of multiple exciton generation (MEG), whereby impact ionization can generate multiple electron-hole pairs from a single photon with an energy that is multiple times the band-gap energy of the semiconductor. It will be shown how terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy (TTDS) can be used to study MEG in semiconductor QDs, both using a table-top source at the University of Manchester as well as ALICE's high-powered THz source. The synchronization of a laser to an external radiation source will be demonstrated with the example of laser-pump synchrotron-probe experiments at the SRS, with a view to synchronization at ALICE.
EMMA Commissioning Workshop
20, 21 & 22 May, Cockcroft Institute
The
CONFORM project, run by the BASROC association and funded by the Basic Technology
programme, is building a prototype of a new sort of accelerator - the nsFFAG
- at the Daresbury Laboratory. This has the potential to be useful in many
applications: including oncology through proton and hadron radiation therapy,
accelerator-driven reactors that can provide clean safe nuclear power, and
in particle physics. At this half-way point in our 4 year programme we held
an Open Day to invite potential future users of this technology to come and
discover what we are doing.
Lord Drayson of Kensington visit
15 May
Lord Drayson of Kensington, Minister of State for Science and Innovation visited the ALICE facility.
PALS visits ALICE
7 May
Commissioning of the GaAs Photocathode Preparation Facility
April 09
Management,
scientists and engineers of ASTeC, DL Engineering Department and Cockcroft
Institute celebrate successful commissioning of the GaAs Photocathode Preparation
Facility - from left to right Heinrich Scheibler, Keith Middleman, Swapan Chattopadhyay,
Boris Militsyn, Ian Burrows, Mike Poole, Yuri Saveliev, Adrian Hannah, Barry
Fell, Ryan Cash, Mark Pendleton, Jim Clarke, Narong Chanlek, Julian McKenzie.
The facility, which has been developed by a collaboration of ASTeC and the
Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Novosibirsk, during the last two years
for gun upgrade of ALICE ERL demonstrated quantum yield of GaAs photocathode
on Mo substrate as high as 15% at a wavelength of 635 nm that is higher than
the results of associated projects and at a reasonable level compared to the
best results worldwide.
New Record for GaAs Quantum Efficiency at Daresbury!
This week a team of scientists from Daresbury achieved a major milestone for the future of ALICE. The team have successfully activated a GaAs cathode with a Quantum Efficiency of 15%, an improvement of a factor of three on our previous best. Scientists and engineers from Daresbury have spent the last 18 months designing and building a loadlock system that will be incorporated on the ALICE photoinjector within the next 12 months, this upgrade will lead to a significant improvement in ALICE performance.
LLRF and synchronisation tests
29th April 2009
On Wednesday 29th April, LLRF and synchronisation tests of two superconducting 3.9 GHz dipole-mode cavities were performed as part of the RF groups' ongoing LC-ABD collaboration work with Lancaster University. Results have shown a phase synchronisation between the two SRF cavities of 0.05 degrees, which exceeds the 0.09 degrees specification for these systems for the International Linear Collider project.
RF Group Testing
24th April 2009
On Friday 24th April, the RF group facilitated testing of a commercial LLRF system developed by Intrumentation Technologies in Slovenia. High power RF tests were performed using a 30 kW IOT driving through a 3 dB hybrid, to feed two 1.3 GHz normal conducting RF cavities. Measurements showed that extremely tight phase and amplitude tolerances could reached and maintained, to the level of beter than 0.01 degrees in phase and 0.01% in amplitude.
ALICE
ALICE is just finishing a long shutdown which has seen the installation of the Compton Backscattering Beam line. RF cavity conditioning and qualification will commence on the 2nd of May, with ALICE operations scheduled to commence mid May. After this date operational details of the planned experimental programmes can be found through the ALICE log book at http://www.4gls.ac.uk/erlp/elog/. The new ALICE web site is due to be launched early June and we will announce the link on this site.
IOP Particle Accelerators and Beams Group
The new IOP Particle Accelerators and Beams Group was launched on 1 January. The first Annual Meeting, together with an inaugural AGM, will be held at IOP headquarters in London on Friday 3 July. The programme of talks will be confirmed shortly. All with accelerator interests are welcome and strong support from active UK groups is expected.
Contact: Mike Poole (chair) or Ken Long (Secretary)
TILC09 workshop
Jim
Clarke and Deepa Angal-Kalinin have recently attended the TILC09
workshop in Tsukuba which was a major meeting covering the physics motivation
and the machine design for the International Linear Collider. At the heart
of the meeting was a review of the accelerator design by an international panel
of experts. Jim took part in the positron source design review and Deepa the
review of the beam delivery system and the ATF2 test facility in Japan. The
panel were impressed by the progress that has been made and they will report
their findings shortly.
Minister visits Daresbury Laboratory
26th March 2009
Rt. Hon. John Denham, Secretary of State for the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) visited Daresbury Laboratory and the Cockcroft Institute, and toured the ALICE particle accelerator.
The visit was scheduled to coincide with the publication of the Manchester Independent Economic Review (MIER), and to launch a Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry (KCMC).
The MIER contained seven parts, one of which looked specifically at the Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus. In a speech marking the launch of both the MIER and KCMC, the Secretary of State highlighted the positive impacts expected from the KCMC in fields such as photovoltaics, biomaterials and catalytic technologies, and also spoke positively of the Government’s desire to work towards the “brightest possible future for Daresbury”, referring to the Laboratory as “an international resource with world class science, knowledge transfer and innovation”.
The Minister clearly stated the need for the siting of a large facility at Daresbury, acting as the focal point of the scientific activities on the campus, a point also made in the MIER. He chose the New Light Source project as an example of ‘big science’, and commented that Daresbury should be “in the front running” to host this major facility. In responding formally to the MIER, DIUS welcomed the recommendation for the appointment of a scientific champion of international standing to chair the campus science board and oversee the science carried out over the whole Daresbury campus, and acknowledged the success of the Cockcroft Institute as a centre-of-excellence in accelerator science.
The Daresbury Campus section of the Manchester Independent Economic Review can be downloaded here
The formal Government response made by DIUS can be downloaded here
Surface Conditioning for Ultra High Vacuum
25th February 2009
ALICE accelerates on!
First beam accelerated through the energy recovery module.
7 December 2008
At
17:00 on Sunday 7th December 2008, the ALICE commissioning team achieved first
accelerated beamthrough the linac energy recovery module. The team have now
moved on to setupthe final commissioning stage for energy recovery. During
this stage, the full energy beam will be threaded around the 360 degrees of
the beam transport system, to the start of the same linac. Then having setup
the right conditions within the transport, it will undergo deceleration through
that linac module to achieve energy recover. If this happens before December
25th, Christmas will have come early!
ALICE Accelerates to 4 million Volt Milestone!
4th November 2008
A major milestone has been achieved in the completion of the UK's next-generation particle accelerator, ALICE, which is set to produce an intense beam of light that will revolutionise the way in which accelerator based light source research facilities will be designed in the future.
To mark the occasion, ALICE was visited yesterday, 14 November 2008, by His
Royal Highness The Duke of Kent as part of his visit to the Daresbury Science
and Innovation Campus.
…read
more »
ALICE - first acceleration through the Booster
24th October 2008
Around 4 MeV acceleration was achieved in Booster cavity 2 at 00:54 24/10/08.
The success heralds a first for UK: a high quality electron beam from a photoinjector
being boosted halfway to relativistic energies by UK's first linear superconducting
microwave accelerator.
The injection is the critical process in any accelerator,
the electrons and the team that builds the facility sharing the sufferings,
the pangs and joys of 'birth', so to speak. With this successful injection,
accelerating up to the speed up light can only be around the corner and the
excitement to follow in not too distant a future!!
Congratulations to the
entire ALICE team in the Cockcroft Institute and the STFC's ASTeC centre
for such an pioneering achievement!
31 August 2010