SLAC Today logo

FACET Workshop Welcomes Potential Research Users

(Photo - FACET workshop)
SLAC head of Accelerator Research Tor Raubenheimer addresses attendees of the FACET Users Workshop. (Photo by Julie Karceski.)

A group of accelerator physicists came to SLAC last week for the Facilities for Accelerator Science and Experimental Test Beams Users Workshop, to get a head start on future research opportunities. With FACET construction anticipated to wrap up next year, around 40 scientists got together at SLAC on March 18 and 19 to hear about the facility's potential and explore potential research projects. They also learned about requirements for using FACET's state-of-the-art accelerator test beam.

"This beam is going to be unique and will offer new scientific opportunities," said SLAC head of Accelerator Research Tor Raubenheimer during the opening remarks, listing studies of plasma and dielectric wakefield acceleration, material properties in extreme conditions and novel radiation sources as potential research areas. The workshop offered four different scientific presentations on these topics, in addition to talks on planned FACET services and safety as well as group discussions.

The attendees included university researchers and other physicists who have been using low energy accelerators. But some of these scientists are finding their work in wakefield acceleration and surface science limited by the low accelerator energies and are intrigued by the potential capabilities of FACET's electron beam.

"The primary motivation is to do plasma wakefield acceleration," said Mark Hogan, a SLAC physicist who studies wakefield acceleration. "However, there are many other research applications, such as the study of dielectric wakefield accelerators and of crystals and materials."

This workshop was not an only opportunity for SLAC to unveil details about FACET's capabilities, but also for the visiting scientists to outline their research needs.

"We wanted to hear from the user community," Hogan said. "We've been talking about building FACET for a long time. It's finally becoming real."

—Julie Karceski
  SLAC Today, March 22, 2010