A REVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH ON FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLES –

“PARTICLE ACCELERATOR”

ne of the most interesting applications of motion of charged particles in electric and

O magnetic fields is Particle Accelerator. It is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields
to propel charged particles to very high speeds and energies, and to contain them in
well-defined beams. Large accelerators are used for basic research in particle physics.
The most powerful accelerator currently is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near
Geneva, Switzerland, built by the European collaboration CERN. Accelerators are also
used as synchrotron light sources for the study of condensed matter physics. Smaller
particle accelerators are used in a wide variety of applications, including particle
therapy for oncological purposes, radioisotope production for medical diagnostics, ion
implanters for manufacture of semiconductors, and accelerator mass spectrometers for
measurements of rare isotopes such as radiocarbon. There are currently more than
30,000 accelerators in operation around the world.
There are two basic classes of accelerators: electrostatic and electrodynamic
(or electromagnetic) accelerators. Electrostatic accelerators use static electric fields to
accelerate particles. A small-scale example of this class is the cathode ray tube in an
ordinary old television set. Electrodynamic or electromagnetic accelerators, on the
other hand, use changing electromagnetic fields (either magnetic induction or
oscillating radio frequency fields) to accelerate particles. Since in these types the
particles can pass through the same accelerating field multiple times, the output energy
is not limited by the strength of the accelerating field. The most famous particle
accelerators that are mostly in use are Cyclotron, Synchrotron, and LHC (Large
Hadron Collider).

Cyclotron:
Cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator to accelerate charged particle which was
invented by E.O. Lawrence and M.S. Livingston in 1934. It accelerates charged
particles outwards from the center along a spiral path. The particles are held to a spiral
trajectory by a static magnetic field and accelerated by a rapidly varying (radio
frequency) electric field. It consists of two hollow semicircular electrodes, called dees,
mounted back to back, and separated by a narrow gap, in an evacuated chamber
between the poles of a magnet as shown in figure-01. An electric field, alternating in
polarity, is created in the gap by a radio-frequency oscillator.
Working mechanism-
To start with, we have an
electromagnet which continuously generates a
magnetic field which is vertically up. Inside
this magnetic field we have two D-shaped
metallic plates. Both these magnetic plates are
connected to an alternating electric source
which changes the polarity of electric field
periodically. Now, if a charged particle-
proton is at the center of this cyclotron, it will
be attracted towards the negative plate. figure-01
As it enters the plate, it is acted upon by the magnetic field resulting in its circular motion.
As soon as this proton exits the plate and enters the gap, the polarity of the plate changes and
next plate becomes negatively charged and thus proton gets attracted towards that plate and
will accelerate towards it. This increases the energy of the particle. This loop keeps on
repeating until particles are accelerated to required speed. In each loop, the energy and
radius of circular path keeps on increasing. Then the particle leaves the system via exit slit.
This accelerated particle can then be used for bombarding other atoms or molecules to study
the result and discover new things about it.
Cyclotrons were the most powerful particle accelerator technology until the 1950s
when they were superseded by the synchrotron, and are still used to produce particle beams
in physics and nuclear medicine.

Synchrotron:

figure-02

A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator, descended from the

cyclotron, in which the accelerating particle beam travels around a fixed closed-loop path.
The magnetic field which bends the particle beam into its closed path increases with time
during the accelerating process, being synchronized to the increasing kinetic energy of the
particles (figure-02). The synchrotron is one of the first accelerator concepts to enable the
construction of large-scale facilities, since bending, beam focusing and acceleration can be
separated into different components. The most powerful modern particle accelerators use
versions of the synchrotron design.

Large Hadron Collider:

Humanity has made some object travel at nearly the speed of light (99.999999%). This
is possible due to Large Hadron Collider or LHC (figure-03). The primary key that makes it
possible in LHC is that sub-atomic particles are charged and similarly charged particles
repel each other. In LHC, proton start off by traveling down a linear tube where
electromagnetic fields give them a constant push forward and from there they enter into a
series of loops where in each loop they speed up more.

figure-03
 The working mechanisms of these particle accelerators are same. The only difference
is the operation and innovative method which speeds up the particle even more. LHC
is latest achievement in research of fundamental particle as the particles are injected to
26KM long tube packed with magnets to accelerate them so fast. The tube carries two
sets of protons which run around the ring in opposite direction. They cross paths at
several points to create collisions to observe. There are various limitations initially at
LHC such as Einstein’s theory of relativity which says that if we keep accelerating
things near the speed of light, it gets heavier instead of being faster. As a result, LHC
makes the proton more massive and more force is required to speed it up. The
enormous energy of proton must be kept totally in control or else a small accident can
result in catastrophic disaster.

These particle accelerators aren’t used only for research on sub-atomic

particles and prove particle physics theories. There are several other uses in various
fields, such as, in medicine, accelerated particles can be used to kill cancer cells or for
detailed imaging from inside the body. Another important field of application is that of
border security, as accelerators can be used to scan containers and items, and help
identify weapons or dangerous substances. Industry relies heavily on particle beams:
examples are the creation of new materials, treatment of waste waters, pollution
monitoring and sterilization of medical equipment. The energy sector benefits from
accelerators as well, as these can be used for the treatment of nuclear waste and maybe,
in the future, in the production of clean, cheap and safe energy via nuclear fusion. And
so on and so forth. To sum up, a lot of technological innovations created on 21st century
are created by help of particle accelerator and its research. Furthermore, it is in the
peak of all scientific innovations that human civilization has reached for and by using
it, we can go further more ahead by researching further to create gadgets that are
thought impossible such as artificial sun, time travel machine, etc.