A team of scientists has built a miniature double particle accelerator that could recycle some of the laser electricity fed into the system to boost the electricity of the elevated electrons a 2nd time. The device uses terahertz radiation, and a single accelerating tube is simply 1.five centimeters lengthy and 0.seventy nine millimeters in diameter.
A crew of DESY scientists has built a miniature double particle accelerator that could recycle some of the laser strength fed into the machine to boost the electricity of the expanded electrons a second time. The tool uses narrowband terahertz radiation which lies among infrared and radio frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum, and a single accelerating tube is simply 1.five centimetres long and 0.79 millimetres in diameter. Dongfang Zhang and his colleagues from the Center for Free-Electron laser Science (CFEL) at DESY present their experimental accelerator inside the journal Physical Review X.
The miniature size of the tool is possible because of the fast wavelength of terahertz radiation. “Terahertz-based accelerators have emerged as promising applicants for next-technology compact electron sources,” explains Franz Kärtner, Lead Scientist at DESY and head of the CFEL organization that built the device. Scientists have successfully experimented with terahertz accelerators before, which could enable packages where large particle accelerators are just not viable or necessary.
“However, the technique is still in an early stage, and the overall performance of experimental terahertz accelerators has been limited by way of the relatively brief section of interaction among the terahertz pulse and the electrons,” says Kärtner.
For the new tool, the crew used an extended pulse comprising many cycles of terahertz waves. This multicycle pulse substantially extends the interaction segment with the particles. “We feed the multicycle terahertz pulse right into a waveguide that is coated with a dielectric material,” says Zhang. Within the waveguide, the pulse’s speed is reduced. A bunch of electrons is shot into the central part of the waveguide simply in time to journey together with the pulse. “This scheme will increase the interaction location among the terahertz pulse and the electron bunch to the centimetre range — compared to 3 millimetres in in advance experiments,” reviews Zhang.
The tool did now not produce a big acceleration inside the lab. However, the team should show the concept through showing that the electrons gain electricity inside the waveguide. “It is a proof of idea. The electrons’ electricity accelerated from 55 to approximately 56.five kilo electron volts,” says Zhang. “A stronger acceleration can be completed by using a stronger laser to generate the terahertz pulses.”