A photographer takes a picture of a prototype of the tube of the new linear accelerator Linac 4, at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).
This is a great feat for researchers worldwide, since Linac 4 will power up the High-Luminosity LHC, making it possible to measure fundamental particles with more accuracy and observe rare processes occurring beyond circular accelerator's current level of sensitivity. After an extensive testing period, Linac 4 will be connected to CERN's accelerator complex during the upcoming long technical shut down in 2019-20. The latter will replace Linac 2, which has been in service since 1978, and was the first addition to CERN's accelerator chain. Linac 4 is a modern injector and the first key element of our ambitious upgrade programme, leading up to the High-Luminosity LHC. "We also today celebrate and thank the wide global collaboration that led this project, demonstrating once again what can be accomplished by bringing together the efforts of many nations".
Linac 4 will be the most powerful accelerator available to science once it completes its' lengthy trials.
In the future, the linear accelerator could assist doctors in the treatment of cancer, by creating isotopes that can diagnose and treat the disease.
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Compared to the 27-km main ring of the LHC, Lineac 4 is tiny at a mere 90 metres long, 12 metres below ground. The new tech cost approximately $93 million and took 10 years to make, but due to its efficient size the potential applications for use are vast, according to project leader Maurizio Vretenar.
Once each 400 microsecond pulse of ions has enough energy - in the case of Lineac 4, it will be 160 MeV (mega electron volts) - the electrons are stripped away, leaving the protons to enter the Proton Synchrotron Booster. The increase in energy, together with the use of hydrogen ions, will enable doubling the beam intensity delivered to the LHC, contributing to an increase in the luminosity of the LHC by 2021.
Luminosity is the number of particles colliding within a specific amount of time.
The new device "will considerably increase the potential of the LHC experiments" it added.
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