Read on for a report on our recent workshop, written by our Chairman, Professor Graeme Burt.Particle accelerators use up huge amounts of electricity, with CERN currently using 10% of the electricity in the Geneva region. The next generation of particle accelerators for high energy physics would require their own power stations if changes are not made soon in the way we approach accelerator design. The next generation of machines need to be more responsible and look to reduce the amount of electricity needed. 


The UK is one of the leading nations in improving the efficiency of particle accelerators. Cockcroft recently hosted a workshop on behalf of the Particle Accelerator Engineering Network on energy efficiency of particle accelerators on the 22nd March. In this workshop we will present state-of-the-art developments in the UK to reduce the power demands of modern particle accelerators, covering RF sources, magnets, lasers, electrical and thermal aspects, as well as machine concepts.


The workshop looked at the various concepts being investigated in the UK to increase the efficiency of future accelerators as well as an invited talk from Thomas Parker from wa3rm. We had speakers from ISIS, Cockcroft (ASTEC, Lancaster and Liverpool), University of Huddersfield and University of Southampton.


There were 4 speakers from Cockcroft on permanent magnet quadrupoles (Alex Bainbridge), high efficiency klystrons (Jinchi Cai), high efficiency lasers (Laura Corner), and energy recovery linacs (Peter Williams).


200 attendees registered for the event which is testament to the importance of this developing area of accelerator engineering.


If you missed the workshop, you can view it online