Encyclopedia > Argonne Tandem Linear Accelerator System
The Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) is a scientific user facility at Argonne National Laboratory. ALTAS is the first superconductinglinear accelerator for heavy ions at energies in the vicinity of the Coulomb barrier. Argonne National Laboratory is one of the United States governments oldest and largest science and engineering research national laboratories and is the largest in the Midwest. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor (with boiling liquid nitrogen underneath) demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... A Linear particle accelerator is an electrical device for the acceleration of subatomic particles. ... Heavy-ion refers to ion of atom which is usually heavier than carbon. ... The Coulomb barrier, named after physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1736—1806), is the energy barrier due to electrostatic interaction that two nuclei need to overcome so they can get close enough to undergo nuclear fusion. ...
How ATLAS works
Ions are generated from one of two sources: the 9-MV electrostatic tandem Van de Graff accelerator or the Positive Ion Injector, a 12-MV low-velocity linac and electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source. The ions are sent from one of these two into the 20-MV 'booster' linac, then to the 20-MV 'ATLAS' linac section. Van de Graaff generator A Van de Graaff generator is a machine which uses a moving belt to accumulate very high charges on a hollow metal globe. ... A 1960s single stage 2MeV linear Van de Graaff accelerator, here opened for maintenance A linear particle accelerator is an electrical device for the acceleration of subatomic particles. ... A plasma may be efficiently produced by superimposing a static magnetic field and a high frequency electromagnetic field at the electron cyclotron resonance frequency. ...
The ATLAS linac section contains 62 resonators, each one of seven different type. Each type accelerates ions to a particular velocity. Each resonator is also tunable to allow for a wide range of velocities.
The ions in the ATLAS linac are aligned into a beam which exits the linac into one of three experimental areas. The experiment areas contain scattering chambers, spectrometers and spectographs, beamlines, a gamma-ray facility, and particle detectors. In particle physics, scattering is a class of phenomena by which particles are deflected by collisions with other particles. ... A spectrometer is an optical instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. ... Beamlines at synchrotrons are facilities at which researchers get access to synchrotron light, the tunable and high-energy X-ray beams used in synchrotron research. ... Gamma rays (often denoted by the Greek letter gamma, γ) are an energetic form of electromagnetic radiation produced by radioactivity or other nuclear or subatomic processes such as electron-positron annihilation. ... In experimental particle physics, a particle detector is a device used to track and identify high-energy particles, such as produced by nuclear decay, cosmic radiation, or reactions in a particle accelerator. ...
What ATLAS is for
The energy levels of the ions produces by ATLAS are ideal to study the properties of the nucleus. Specifically, understanding reactions between nuclei from very low energies (typically encountered in burning stars) to the very highest energies (encountered soon after the "Big Bang"). Nuclei with specific properties can be studied to understand fundamental interactions. A stylized representation of a lithium atom. ...
ARGONNE, Ill. (June 26, 1996) — On this date 15 years ago, Argonne National Laboratory formally commissioned a powerful new research tool that enables scientists to probe the structure of the atomic nucleus and explore the interior of an evolving star.
Argonne's Lowell Bollinger, director of the project, recalled at the event that many physicists said the technology needed to achieve a superconductingheavy-ionaccelerator was impossible.
Argonne is managed by the University of Chicago for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
Argonne was formed in 1946 as an outgrowth of the University’s involvement in the Manhattan Project, which in 1942 produced the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
Argonne has the Advanced Photon Source, which is the pre-eminent X-ray source in the United States, one of the three leading ones in the world.
Argonne also has the ATLAS, the ArgonneTandemLinearAcceleratorSystem, which is going to be the basis for the Rare Isotope Accelerator, which will put nuclear physics and astrophysics research on a new level.
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