Beecroft Building, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU
Dr Morgan Hibberd, University of Manchester
Abstract
Particle accelerators are incredible scientific tools that have revolutionised physics since the first machines were developed nearly 100 years ago, contributing on average to a physics Nobel Prize approximately every 3 years. Over time, particle accelerators have grown ever larger to push the boundaries of high energy physics, with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN currently the largest machine ever built at a circumference of 27 km, and plans for the next high-energy collider spanning an enormous 100 km. This scale comes at extreme cost, posing environmental, sustainability and even geo-political challenges that will ultimately limit the field of accelerator science and its role not just in high-energy physics but across its many applications in research, industry and society.
In this seminar, I want to present some of the new exciting ways accelerator scientists are working to shrink the size of particle accelerators by up to 1000x by exploiting lasers, plasma and terahertz radiation, as we reach a critical turning point in the field where accelerator science meets cutting-edge photonics. The use of ultrafast laser and terahertz techniques offers unique capabilities compared to conventional radio-frequency accelerator technology, enabling advanced diagnostic tools and extreme control for shorter, brighter and more stable particle beams. If we can harness this potential, we can revolutionise the field of accelerator science and open a pathway for low-cost, sustainable technologies that could include new energy-frontier colliders, compact X-ray light sources for research and industry, and accessible small-scale particle beam therapy facilities.