Accelerator Science

The facilities that have grown up around accelerator technology at Daresbury can benefit many industrial and scientific sectors: 

In healthcare, charged particle beams are used in cancer detection and more importantly in cancer therapy, an area undergoing a major research programme through the British Accelerator Science Research in Oncology Consortium (BASROC).

In digital-ICT accelerator science has a long history. The earliest manifestation of the World Wide Web in 1989 was the brainchild of the British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee at CERN the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, which has a close relationship with Daresbury.  Examples of today’s developments are in software for medical imaging and the exploration and understanding of complex structures through the advanced embedding and decoding of patterns, such via neural networks algorithms.

In energy and environment scientists in accelerator technology are looking at ways of supporting future energy programmes. Artificial transmutation of waste (ATW) is one area undergoing research, whereby scientists are looking at how the harmful effects of radioactive nuclear waste may be neutralised.

There is increasing pressure on the automotive and aerospace engineering sector to make more efficient use of fuel.  Accelerator technology, applied to surface physics and surface science, with associated micro-machining capabilities, has already proven successful in developing more efficient systems.  At The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in the USA this has already resulted in a major increase in the efficiency of fuel-injection systems for Siemens Automotive industries. There is direct synergy with the Jefferson lab technology and the emerging technology of Superconducting Microwaves at Daresbury lab and Cockcroft Institute.

The above example for auto and aero engineering also benefits from Daresbury’s micro and nano technology capabilities.  Charged particle and light beams can be used for micro-machining.  Cold and superconducting accelerators depend on an understanding of the surface properties of precious metals such as Niobium. The required techniques of surface science and technology are directly applicable to nano-fabrication of micro-nozzles, for example.  

There are major implications for the security and instrumentation, detectors & advanced engineering sectors, through the application of Daresbury’s expertise in charged particle beams, rapid switching, sensor based switching, and the application of silicon components as detectors.