From Symmetry Magasine, 24 May 2013
After nearly 100 combined years working on accelerators—more than 75 of those years at SLAC—physicists Juwen Wang and Roger Miller know a thing or two about accelerating particles for scientific research. Now they’ve become experts in accelerating particles to view the hidden contents of cargo containers.
Over the past eight years, Wang and Miller helped Accuray, a Silicon Valley company, design and build X-ray devices that can scan cargo containers for nuclear materials and other hazards.
A version of the cargo-screening system is now in commercial use, and in May 2013 the company received national recognition for its successful development from the federal Small Business Administration.
While Accuray specializes in building accelerator systems for cancer treatment, company officials decided in 2006 to pursue an opportunity to design and build a cargo-scanning system, says Stephen Cheung, the company's principal investigator of cargo security projects. This required an accelerator design that was different from others available in the market. Read more >>
