Synchro-cyclotron (CERN)

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The decommissioned synchro-cyclotron

The Synchro-Cyclotron at CERN (English Synchrocyclotron , SC for short) was a particle accelerator , in operation from 1957 to 1990, which brought ions to energies of up to 600 MeV .

history

At a UNESCO meeting in 1951, before the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) was founded, the construction of a synchro-cyclotron for 600  MeV as an accelerator with medium energy was proposed. In 1952 Cornelis Bakker became head of the group responsible for planning and designing the synchro-cyclotron.

While the USA was well advanced in building particle accelerators in 1952 , Europe only had two large synchrocyclotron-type accelerators under construction, one in Uppsala (200 MeV) and the other in Liverpool (400 MeV). They were both smaller than the American ones, and Europe also lacked experts for large accelerators. The team selected for the synchro-cyclotron at CERN had also worked more or less only in energy regions below the planned 600 MeV. Although the synchro-cyclotron was considered a “small” machine, compared to the planned proton synchrotron (PS), working with it meant entering new technological areas and opening up the possibility of actively developing the new area of high energy physics in Europe to contribute.

The device delivered the first particle beam on August 1, 1957. Originally intended to bridge the gap until the more powerful PS went into operation, the SC began with experiments in the areas of particle and nuclear physics . In 1964 the SC's field of work was limited to nuclear physics in order to leave particle physics to the PS (which had been in operation since 1959).

In 1967 the synchro-cyclotron was supplemented by a system for generating radioactive ion beams, the Isotope Separator On Line Device , or ISOLDE for short . The accelerator served several areas in addition to nuclear physics , for example astrophysics and medical physics . When ISOLDE was relocated to the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) in 1990 , the synchro-cyclotron was shut down after 33 years of research.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Sandrine Reyes: Archives of Synchro-Cyclotron Division, SC . CERN . Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  2. ↑ Ulrike Mersits: Construction of the CERN Synchro-Cyclotron (1952-1957) . In: Studies in CERN history . CERN-CHS-13. CERN , August 1984, p. 74 (English, cern.ch [accessed on August 28, 2019]).
  3. ↑ Sandrine Reyes: Archives of Proton Synchrotron Division and Machine Proton Synchrotron Division, PS and MPS . CERN . Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  4. ↑ The Sychrocyclotron . Retrieved October 10, 2014.

Coordinates: 46 ° 13 '58.6 "  N , 6 ° 3' 10"  E ; CH1903:  493,094  /  121115