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| Above: Graduate students partake in a lecture on accelerator technologies by TRIUMF's SRF expert Bob Laxdall |
This January 2010, TRIUMF will continue to build upon its commitment to accelerator science education with the addition of a new graduate level course on the physics of particle accelerators and beams. The course, "Physics and Engineering of Particle Accelerators: II. Protons and Ions", will be offered at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Victoria (UVic). The course is designed for physics graduate students as well as physics and engineering physics senior undergraduates who either use accelerators for their research or wish to pursue an advanced degree in accelerator physics or engineering.
This new course follows on the heels of its successful precursor, "Accelerator Physics and Engineering: I. Electrons"-offered during the 2009 winter semester at UBC and UVic-which attracted not only graduate students but also TRIUMF staff who participated in the course as non-degree students. "The Physics faculties at both universities fully embraced the course initiative and have continued to give their support to this new course offering in accelerator physics," commented Dr. Lia Merminga, Head of the Accelerator Division at TRIUMF and lead for this new program.
The course focuses on proton and ion accelerators, with emphasis on the TRIUMF accelerators-the 500 MeV cyclotron and the ISAC Rare Isotope Beam Facility accelerators, including the ISAC-II superconducting heavy-ion linac-and the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Students will be introduced to the fundamental concepts of accelerator physics, the principles and associated technologies for the generation and acceleration of hadron beams, topics on beam dynamics, and injection and extraction systems. It will conclude with applications of proton and ion accelerators in medicine, particle and nuclear physics, and Accelerator-Driven Subcritical Reactors (ADSR).
With the recent expansion of TRIUMF's accelerator physics research program and plans to construct a superconducting electron linear accelerator, this is an exciting time at TRIUMF and in the field of accelerator physics, especially for young researchers. Particle accelerators enable fascinating scientific discoveries in a broad range of disciplines including particle and nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, materials science, biology and chemistry, and have found ever expanding applications in medicine, security, energy and industry. Moreover, the physics of accelerators is a field of science in its own right, with a dynamic research program driven by demands on particle beams pushing the performance envelope, as well as advances in technology making possible in-depth theoretical and experimental understanding of the behaviour of charged particle beams. TRIUMF's Director and the Accelerator Division leadership are keen on expanding graduate student research opportunities in accelerator physics at the laboratory and on teaching the fundamentals at the university level, with the aim of training the next generation of leaders.
"Students who take this course will benefit greatly by having access to world-class facilities and infrastructure, from instrumentation and labs, to experimental test facilities and operating accelerators," explained Merminga. In addition to taking courses, students are also given the opportunity to participate in frontier research in accelerator science at TRIUMF, under the supervision of expert TRIUMF personnel. In turn, TRIUMF benefits by having access to a pool of excellent young scientists in the making, who are essential for a vibrant research program in accelerator science today and will make up the skilled workforce tomorrow.
The course will run from January to April 2010 and will be taught by TRIUMF accelerator physicists Rick Baartman, Mike Craddock, Bob Laxdal, and Lia Merminga. For more information on the course, click here. If you have any questions, please contact Lia Merminga at: merminga@triumf.ca .
-- Meghan Magee, Communications Assistant
Photos: Nicole Bienvenu, TRIUMF