With the latest US Particle Physics Community Planning Exercise (“Snowmass 2021”) getting under way this autumn, our special In Focus report takes an in-depth look at progress across a number of large-scale accelerator projects in the US. Fermilab’s Proton Improvement Plan II is an ambitious reimagining of its accelerator complex that, upon completion in 2028, will drive a diverse experimental programme in particle physics. Elsewhere, the engagement of the international nuclear-physics community will be front-and-centre as the Electron–Ion Collider takes shape through the 2020s. Meanwhile, the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams is about to open up new frontiers in the study of rare isotopes; SLAC’s LCLS-II upgrade will take X-ray science to the next level; and Berkeley Lab’s pioneering Cyclotron Road innovation initiative opens for applications. These and other projects, such as the Proton Power Upgrade at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source, demonstrate the continuing importance of accelerators for fundamental and applied research in the US and beyond.
All of the articles from the print edition are available online, or alternatively you can download a PDF version.
Read article 'Jefferson Lab inaugurates upgraded CEBAF'
The $338 million upgrade has tripled CEBAF’s original operating energy.
Read article 'Ghosts in the machine'
In July 1956, in a brief paper published in Science, a small team based at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US presented results from an experiment at a new, powerful fiss...
Read article 'The founding of Fermilab'
Fifty years ago, physicists in the US established a new laboratory and with it a new approach to carrying out frontier research.
Read article 'Tales of TRIUMF'
Founded 50 years ago to meet research needs that no single university could provide,
Canada’s premier accelerator laboratory continues to drive discoveries.
Read article 'Small accelerator promises big returns'
The CBETA multi-turn energy-recovery linac aims to combine the best of linear and circular accelerators
Read article 'First beam at SLAC plasma facility'
FACET-II, a new facility for accelerator research at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California, has produced its first electrons. FACET-II is an upgrade to the Facility fo...
Read article 'HL-LHC magnets enter production in the US'
Brookhaven National Laboratory has successfully tested a second Nb3Sn quadrupole, marking the end of the prototyping phase for the HL-LHC quadrupoles.
Read article 'Energetic protons boost BNL isotope production'
Accelerator upgrades will help to meet the demand for strontium-82.
