Feb 16 2013
The University of Twente in the Netherlands has donated a linear accelerator and peripheral materialsto Colorado State University to help enhance ongoing research collaborations with Professors Sandra Biedron and Stephen Milton in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The accelerator arrived on campus in January.
Biedron and Milton are working with Twente’s lead collaborator, Peter van der Slot, on a number of research initiatives, such as generating Terahertz radiation, compact light sources, high-gradient acceleration, and seeding schemes for next-generation light sources.
“We are looking forward to expanding our partnership with our colleagues at CSU with the unique linear accelerator test bed tool,” said van der Slot. “This test bed will enable the types of research necessary to move particle accelerators to the next generation.”
The team is also working together on a seed source under development at the University of Twente, which will be tested on a next-generation light source – the FERMI@Elettra at Sincrotrone Trieste, Italy.
Located in Enschede, the University of Twente is the only campus university in the Netherlands. It is a young, entrepreneurial research university with proven excellence in the field of new technologies. Twente is home to Mesa Institute for Nanotechnology, one of the largest nanotechnology research institutes in the world and known as a good environment for establishing and growing startups in the micro and nano industries. Van der Slot and his research colleagues work in the Laser Physics and Nonlinear Optics group at Mesa.
Biedron and Milton were among 15 scientists and engineers handpicked to collect facts for a U.S. Department of Energy report about the future of accelerator science and technology requested by Congress. They were charged with talking to other scientists in their fields, the users of particle accelerators, program managers in other services and federal agencies, and industry representatives about accelerator technology and advancements that could be made in the next 10 years. The task-force report is online at http://www.acceleratorsamerica.org/report/index.html and the subsequent report was delivered to Congress in fall 2012.
Biedron and Milton joined CSU from Argonne National Laboratory and Sincrotrone Trieste, Italy, where they developed accelerators and peripherals for basic research as well as security and defense. They complement ongoing laser, light source, high-energy physics, radiation physics and plasma/propulsion activities at CSU.