Work Begins On FACET II at SLAC

The upgrade to FACET facility at SLAC promises to improve the beam electron beam quality at the accelerator facility. One of the direct benefits of this upgrade is further advancement in the plasma wakefield accelerator technique. This technique has previously shown to be capable of producing very high accelerating gradient and thus, has the potential to produce accelerating structures that can accelerate charged particles to higher energies over shorter distances.

Now, when you read the press release that I linked above, make sure you are very clear on what it said. The FACET II facility is NOT a facility that operates using this "plasma wakefield" technique. It is a facility that produces an improved electron beam quality, both in energy and emittance, among other things. This electron beam (which is produced via conventional means) is THEN will be used in the study of this wakefield accelerator technique.

The project is an upgrade to the Facility for Advanced Accelerator Experimental Tests (FACET), a DOE Office of Science user facility that operated from 2011 to 2016. FACET-II will produce beams of highly energetic electrons like its predecessor, but with even better quality. These beams will primarily be used to develop plasma acceleration techniques, which could lead to next-generation particle colliders that enhance our understanding of nature’s fundamental particles and forces and novel X-ray lasers that provide us with unparalleled views of ultrafast processes in the atomic world around us.

So read carefully the "sequence of events" here and not get too highly distracted by thinking that FACET II is a "novel X-ray laser, etc..." facility. It isn't. It is a facility, an important facility, to develop the machines that will give us more knowledge to make all these other capabilities.

Consider this as my public service to you to clarify a press release! :)

Zz.

SLAC's LCLS Upgrade and What It Might Mean To You

Just in case you don't know what's going on at SLAC's LCLS, and the upcoming upgrade to bring it to LCLS-II, here's a CNET article meant for the general public to tell what what they have been up to, and what they hope to accomplish with the upgrade.

Keep in mind that LCLS is a "light source", albeit it is a very unique, highly-intense x-ray light source. SLAC is also part of the DOE's US National Laboratories, which include Brookhaven, Fermilab, Berkeley, Argonne, Los Alamos, .... etc.

Zz.

The Transformation of SLAC

The NY Times takes a closer look at the transformation of SLAC from a preeminent particle physics facility into a light source facility.

Four decades ago, the laboratory was arguably the preeminent particle physics laboratory in the world. In a straight tube two miles long, SLAC’s linear accelerator sped electrons to near the speed of light and slammed them together, generating insights into the smallest bits of matter.

In 1974, particles created at the accelerator confirmed the existence of the charm quark, an achievement that earned the team’s leader, Burton Richter, a Nobel Prize in Physics two years later. (Dr. Richter shared the honor with Samuel Ting of Brookhaven National Laboratory, which independently discovered the charm-containing particles at the same time.)

But higher energy accelerators were built elsewhere, and particle physics preeminence passed on, first to the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory outside Chicago and now to CERN in Switzerland.

“We still are very strong in particle physics,” said Persis S. Drell, SLAC’s director, “but not like we were. We aren’t the center of the universe any more.”
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The linear accelerator — the same one that discovered the charm quarks, now more than 40 years old — still accelerates electrons, but now as part of the X-ray laser. Instead of the electrons being directed onto a collision course at near-light speeds, they slalom through sinuous magnetic fields. As the electrons wiggle, they emit X-rays, and with precise wiggling, the X-rays coalesce into a laser beam.

It certainly is a drastic makeover of a very prestigious laboratory. The same type of fate, although not as drastic, may be faced by Fermilab with the Tevatron scheduled to reach its end in a year or two. While Project X may allow it to continue almost the way it is, the lab is also slowly transforming itself more into a neutrino source and research facility, which might be a brilliant move. With the ILC undergoing a slow death and almost on its last breath, the future of high energy physics experiment in the US faces a very uncertain future.

Zz.

LCLS Achieved Completion Milestone

Congratulations to all the folks at SLAC's LCLS for completion of CD4 Milestone just today! Here's the official announcement.

Today at approximately 1PM, LCLS achieved its project completion (CD-4) milestone of delivering first photons to the Far Experimental Hall. This is a tremendous day for SLAC! I congratulate all of you who have worked so hard to make this happen. Above all, I want to congratulate and thank John Galayda for delivering this wonderful machine on time, on budget and with outstanding performance!

Persis

Well done, folks! This was one tough beast to construct, especially with such tight tolerances. It is an amazing accomplishment.

Zz.

Science Begins at SLAC’s LCLS

It was a major undertaking and a total 'sex change' for SLAC going from a high energy physics facility to a "light source" facility with the LCLS. But it appears to be going smoothly and about to produce a lot of science.

Commissioning assisted by users is currently under way, with experiments taking place using the Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO) science instrument, the first of six instruments planned for the LCLS. In these first experiments, the researchers are using X-rays from the LCLS to gain an in-depth understanding of how the ultrabright beam interacts with matter.

And kids, please note that this is made possible by knowledge and advancement in accelerator physics, not high energy physics or particle collider. They are not the same thing.

Zz.

LCLS X-Ray Laser Powers Up

Looks like we have a few major facilities here going online at almost the same time. First we had the National Ignition Facility completing its construction and commissioning. Now it appears that the LCLS at SLAC have sent its first beam through, producing the world's first hard x-ray laser.

The LCLS works differently than most lasers. In a standard laser, a light-emitting material, such as a certain type of crystal, sits between two mirrors, and the light bouncing back and forth stimulates the atoms in the material to crank out lots more light in the form of a laser beam. There are no mirrors for x-rays, however. So instead, the LCLS relies on part of SLAC's 3-kilometer-long linear accelerator to fire a beam of electrons at light speed through specialized magnets called undulators. The magnets make the beam wiggle and produce some x-rays. The x-rays then travel along with the electrons and separate them into bunches, and the bunches produce x-rays far more efficiently. Thanks to that feedback, an x-ray laser beam emerges--as it did last week, SLAC officials report today.

The next few months will be quite fascinating. With the NIF operating at full blast {pun intended}, the beam test at LCLS being ramped up, the Tevatron in a rush to get as much data as possible, and the good ole LHC being powered up some time in October, it is a fun time for physics!

Zz.

Full Documentation for the Large Hadron Collider

Symmetry Breaking has an article on the availability, for free, the full documentation of the LHC. Not sure why anyone outside of the field would want to own a copy, but there they are, published in IoP's Journal of Instrumentation.

It was also interesting to read the saga of SLAC's The Blue Book. It's nice to know they finally got that straighten out and made it available online as well.

Zz.

More On The Naming Spat At SLAC

Here's more news report regarding the use of the name "Stanford" in SLAC and the DOE's requirement of trademarking the name of its National Labs. It is resulting in the possible renaming of SLAC.

Stanford officials who insist the government can't copyright the venerable university's name have countered with an offer that would give federal officials a royalty-free "perpetual" license to use the Stanford and SLAC names.

"SLAC's record is pretty distinguished, and with the university's offer of a license to use the Stanford name, what more do they need?" said Burton Richter, SLAC's former director and one of the Nobelists who won his prize there. "I'm really bewildered."

I wonder if DOE already got a trademark for the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab? I would imagine it doesn't have the same issue here since "Princeton" is a city, unlike "Stanford".

Zz.

No More SLAC

I read this in this week's issue of Science (18 July, 2008). It seems that the name "Stanford Linear Accelerator Center" may be gone soon, and it has nothing to do with the fact that it is no longer a particle collider facility.

The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in Menlo Park, California, will change its name. That’s because the Department of Energy (DOE) wants to trademark the names of its 17 national labs, and Stanford University won’t let DOE claim its name. The impasse is “an example of DOE idiocy,” says Nobelist and former SLAC Director Burton Richter, because the university would protect the name anyway. But DOE has been pushing to trademark lab names for more than a decade, spurred in part by a new law allowing trademark suits against the government, a risk DOE says it is trying to minimize.

Oy vey!

Zz.

Supplemental Spending Bill Signed

The President signed the $186 billion supplemental spending bill which includes $338 million for science agencies in the US. Quick! What percentage of the total supplemental bill is that?! The majority of the money in the bill goes to you-know-where.

This is only a stop-gap measures that will prevent further layoffs at Fermilab and SLAC. The inherent problem not only in the budget, but in the fundamental philosophy of those in Congress hasn't changed. So there really isn't that many reasons to be optimistic at all.

Michael Lubell, a physicist at the City College of New York and APS director of public affairs, also points out that three key issues that physicists raised last December with budget makers remain “largely unaddressed”. These are cuts in funding for particle physics, the lack of support for national facilities, and the damage to America’s credibility as an international partner because of the decision to cut funds for ITER.

“Unless these issues are addressed some time in the next six months, the country will pay a heavy penalty,” said Lubell, who plans to continue lobbying over the 2009 budget.

Zz.

Drell Talks SLAC, Budget Challenge

I don't envy Persis Drell right now. She doesn't even get a "honeymoon" period after being appointed the new Director of SLAC. Immediately, she's thrown into a budget crisis and had to make severe cuts to SLAC's workforce.

This news report is an interview with Drell where she talks about the budget challenge, SLAC, and a bit about her life.

Zz.

SLAC Facing Budget Cuts and Layoffs

I reported last Friday of the impending consequences of the recent budget cuts at SLAC. They had their all-hands meeting today, and the anticipated scenario has become true.

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) staff learned in an "all-hands" meeting today that its budget is being cut by Congress and the center will have to reduce its workforce by 15 percent, or the equivalent of 225 full-time positions.

High energy physics in the US is dying.

Zz.

SLAC Cuts May Be Near

I've already highlighted the debacle with the budget cuts at Fermilab and Argonne. Next comes the news report about the possible cuts at SLAC. A all-hands meeting is scheduled for this coming Monday, and most are expecting rather gloomy news similar to that received at Fermilab.

Y'know, at some point, someone will wake up and realize what is going on. Still, I wouldn't hold my breath on that happening.

Zz.

Woman to Lead SLAC

It's sad that in 2007, we still have headlines when a woman is appointed for a top position. Still, this is a noteworthy accomplishment. Persis Drell has been appointed as the new director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator laboratory. This comes at such an important turning point in SLAC's history as it morphed itself from a high-energy particle collider into a light source.

It is a bit amusing that the San Jose Mercury News that this news report came from is still calling SLAC as an "atom smasher". It's transformation into the LCLS smashers nothing at all. :)

Zz.

SLAC Faces Layoffs as Research Evolves

As SLAC evolves itself from a particle physics facility into a light source facilities, projects and experiments close down one after another. The evolution into its new life also means workers and scientists being laid off during the transformation.

“Scientific projects at a big lab like SLAC are constantly in evolution,” Calder said. “The End Station A series of experiments and installations are coming to a final point. This is particle physics research. At SLAC there is an overall change taking place, there is more emphasis on the photon science research rather than the particle physics research for which SLAC became famous.”

In September 2008, SLAC will also shut down its BaBar project, a particle physics experiment that has been running since 1999. Calder called the project “the last big particle physics experiment at SLAC.” The center hopes to move in a new direction in 2009, when it begins operating its Linac Coherent Light Source photon science project, the first x-ray free electron laser.

This is also another clear indication of the diminishing activity in experimental high energy physics in the US. As CERN's LHC is about to go online next year, SLAC's transformation, along with the scheduled Tevatron's shut down by 2010, high-energy physics experiments in the US will become dormant (dead?) for the next decade or so, especially with the decision on the ILC being postponed to possibly 2016 or even later. Can the US afford to be asleep in this field of study for that long?

Zz.