From Symmetry Magasine, 30 September 2013
In an advance that could dramatically shrink particle accelerators for science and medicine, researchers have used a laser to accelerate electrons at a rate 10 times higher than conventional technology in a nanostructured glass chip smaller than a grain of rice.
The achievement was reported in Nature by a team including scientists from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University.
“We still have a number of challenges before this technology becomes practical for real-world use, but eventually it would substantially reduce the size and cost of future high-energy particle colliders for exploring the world of fundamental particles and forces,” says Joel England, the SLAC physicist who led the experiments. “It could also help enable compact accelerators and X-ray devices for security scanning, medical therapy and imaging, and research in biology and materials science.” Read more >>
