A more effective approach to developing particle accelerators
Particle accelerators are vital to Europe’s ability to be at the forefront of research, along with being central for medical applications and other industries. From radiotherapy to artwork analysis and material testing, the accelerators are the key to our ability to innovate across multiple sectors. And we don’t have enough of them: more and more applications(opens in new window) are being identified, and access is highly competitive. Joint development of a portfolio of advanced particle accelerator technologies is the issue the I.FAST(opens in new window) project sought to address. “We wanted to foster the development of more effective, and more affordable, technologies with lower environmental footprints,” explains I.FAST coordinator Maurizio Vretenar, based at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research(opens in new window) (CERN), Switzerland. The project set out to create an environment favourable to the development of the next generation of accelerators by working hand-in-hand with industry to sustain the long-term evolution of accelerator technologies in Europe. As Vretenar says: “Although industry and researchers have worked closely together on challenges such as these before, I.FAST has been instrumental in fostering a culture of trust and mutual collaboration between academia and industry, which will enable further innovation in particle accelerator technologies.”
Maximising the application of innovative processes across accelerator platforms
The collaboration allowed for the development process to be more streamlined, reducing duplication of effort, by enhancing innovation in the particle accelerator community. “We mapped out and facilitated the development of breakthrough technologies common to multiple accelerator platforms,” Vretenar notes. Just short of 50 partners, including 17 companies as co-innovation partners, worked together to explore new accelerator concepts and advanced prototyping of key technologies. These technologies include new accelerator designs and concepts. “We also enabled advanced superconducting technologies for magnets and cavities, and novel techniques to increase the brightness of synchrotron light sources,” adds Vretenar. Deposition of superconducting thin films on different substrates was achieved and tested, with the goal of improving performance and reducing power consumption of accelerating systems. The project developed strategies and technologies to improve energy efficiency, and new societal applications of accelerators. New technologies for future accelerators were explored, in particular machine learning to improve performance.
Harnessing 3D printing to transform production and repair accelerators
One breakthrough was the use of additive manufacturing (AM), commonly known as 3D printing. The application is a transformative, layer-by-layer process that builds 3D objects from digital designs. This contrasts with traditional, subtractive or formative methods, and allows for unprecedented geometric complexity, reduced material waste and rapid prototyping. The project used AM to produce a series of prototypes of radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerating structures, made in pure copper. These are specialised, compact accelerators of slightly more than a metre in length, used immediately after the source of particles to compact the beam and give the first kick in energy. RFQs are used as injectors for large accelerators, and for applications in medicine and artwork analysis. “This allows us to both reduce cost and to adopt more complex geometries, leading to improved performance. This innovation may pave the way to new applications for production of medical isotopes or new cutting-edge solutions for material and surface analysis,” explains Vretenar. This world premiere was the subject of several publications and was presented at conferences and industrial exhibitions. Further optimisation and characterisation of the prototypes is ongoing. Other applications of AM were identified in the field of ion sources, small and complex structures on which the quality of the particle beam and the repair of faulty accelerator components depend. I.FAST built 13 high-level prototypes to test new accelerator technologies and produced eight reports defining roadmaps for pushing forward critical accelerator technologies. “The project’s success was down to strengthening collaboration, in particular with industry, within an open innovation environment. Behind every technology are the people, and our success is largely due to our multidisciplinary team and the relationships we have built.”