The Cockcroft Institute

News

March 6, 2023

Ice-cold electron beams for ultra-compact X-ray lasers 

Scientists worldwide search for novel approaches to miniaturize X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) which could make them cheaper, more accessible, and possibly enable novel capabilities and modalities.  XFELs are utilized to create extreme matter conditions for hot-dense matter research, to study…
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March 1, 2023

History of Free-Electron Lasers in the UK

Elaine Seddon of Cockcroft Institute / ASTeC and ex-Associate Director of SRD together with ex-ASTeC Director Michael Poole have published an article reviewing the history of free-electron laser projects in the UK. Elaine A. Seddon and Michael W. Poole The article,…
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February 27, 2023

Protecting Particle Accelerators with Optical Fibres

Machine protection systems are critical to all particle accelerator infrastructure. Modern accelerators can store extreme energy densities within the particle beam. Anomalous behaviour of a beam can cause excessive radioactive activation of beamline areas, or even damage to accelerator components.…
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February 17, 2023

New £30 million supercomputer centre at Daresbury Laboratory

The new facility will host the latest in new supercomputing, artificial intelligence, and quantum technologies to support business and industry. A ground breaking ceremony has been held in celebration of a new £30 million supercomputer centre that is under construction…
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February 13, 2023

Beam Gas Curtain Installed in the Large Hadron Collider

The Cockcroft Institute’s ongoing collaboration with CERN and GSI reaches new heights as the Beam Gas Curtain (BGC) device is installed on the Large Hadron Collider during the year end technical stop. The Beam Gas Curtain device is a non-invasive…
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February 8, 2023

TeV/m catapult acceleration of electrons in graphene layers

Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) in plasma is a well-known technique to accelerate electron bunches using infra-red (IR) intense laser pulses. Gas droplets of Helium or Hydrogen are easily ionized driving high longitudinal electric fields due to the collective motion of…
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