If it can accelerate protons too then it could be developed into a
hydrogen gas rocket with very high specific impulse. Might be useful
for interplanetary probes.
Brent
On 10/26/2023 12:57 PM, John Clark wrote:
In the October 18, 2023 issue of the Journal Naturescientists report
they have made the world's smallest particle Accelerator:
Coherent nanophotonic electron accelerator
<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06602-7.epdf?sharing_token=SPQgOkRevWzXWP6lb_KM_tRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OsFtl2hsh124Lxz46d6DGAzD4pRolORBhqsOhlUOyy24CY-5bOXHScgpg9lx9EC5G_aBTdVzEok2m56r8toEfzcyhIp0GM1XtkkSufZIPTfQWnaL_vF1zRqDUvgyVYZwwPU61eqEOChzJzoUGeu-7R8frfQKhSd4z_Xo0FuY_OQnp0tSZZ9rlVEoB4_QWbjps%3D&tracking_referrer=physicsworld.com>
The accelerator is just 0.5 millimeters long (0.02 inches) an electron
beam enters one one end of a channel with an energy of 28,400
electron-volts and comes out the other end with an energy of 40,700
electron-volts. The machine doesn't work well for electrons that have
very low energy, it's more efficient when the electrons are moving
close to the speed of light that's why they first boost the
electron's energy by other means to 28,400 electron-volts. The
researchers are confident they should soon be able to reach 300,000
electron-voltswhich is the range of energy that an electron
microscope's use which should make them much cheaper. Inexpensive high
energy electrons might also replace Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography
used to make computer chips. They made their accelerator with silicone
because they were most familiar with how to work with it, but quartz
would be much better because it has a higher electric breakdown field.
The lead researcher of the article says:
"/I might be in a very small minority thinking this is going to play a
role in high-energy physics. The technology should be usable in
materials such as quartz, whose breakdown field is almost 1000 times
that of a traditional accelerator. We expect this work to lead
directly to the advent of nanophotonic accelerators offering high
acceleration gradients up to the billion electron volt per meter
range. Our millimetre becomes a metre. By the time we get to a metre
we should match the SLAC two mile long electron accelerator in energy.
Think about having an accelerator sitting in my office that matches
SLAC. This new type of particle accelerator can be built using
standard cleanroom techniques, such as electron beam lithography. This
is why we think that our results represent a big step forward.
Everyone can go ahead and start engineering useful machines from this./"
John K Clark See what's on my new list at Extropolis
<https://groups.google.com/g/extropolis>
wsa
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