Particle accelerators use up huge amounts of energy, 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.
On 22 March, the Cockcroft Institute hosted a workshop on energy efficiency of particle accelerators on behalf of the Particle Accelerator Engineering Network.
The UK is one of the leading countries in improving the efficiency of particle accelerators and the workshop presented state-of-the-art developments in the UK to reduce the power demands of modern particle accelerators.
The workshop looked at the various concepts being investigated in the UK to increase the efficiency of future accelerators, covering RF sources, magnets, lasers, electrical and thermal aspects, as well as machine concepts.
There were four speakers from the Cockcroft Institute. Alex Bainbridge spoke on permanent magnet quadrupoles, Jinchi Cai presented high efficiency klystrons, Laura Corner spoke about high efficiency lasers, and Peter Williams gave a talk on energy recovery linacs. There was an invited talk by Thomas Parker from WA3RM, as well as speakers from ISIS, University of Huddersfield and University of Southampton.
The event had 200 attendees, which is testament to the importance of this developing area of accelerator engineering.