The Smallest-Ever Particle Accelerator is Here

The particle accelerator is instrumental for the basic research in particle physics. If you do not know much about the particle accelerator, probably you know that these accelerators are big. But, recently, researchers found a new way to build an accelerator shorter than the width of the human hair. 

Mechanism Behind Particle Accelerator

The accelerators are nothing but a lengthy line of radiation emitters. The radiation smacks the given particle at the correct time to offer an extra push. As a result, the particle undergoes an increase in speed in comparison to the previous speed. But, like everything, the particle accelerator also has some downside. The particle accelerator is huge; therefore, it is virtually impossible to experiment in a small place. 

The Need of a Small Particle Accelerator

If the accelerator is one kilometer long and needs energy in megawatts, one cannot keep it in his lab, one of the researchers related to the sector said. If scientists could build a smaller accelerator, even it offers significantly lesser power, it will benefit science, and this is the exact thing that the researchers from the University of Stanford did. 

Jelena Vuckovic, the leader of the project, revealed that their team aimed to make a particle accelerator, which is accessible in nature. The process of building these accelerators was completely different in comparison to the traditional ones, such as the Large Hadron Collider. They used an inverse design algorithm to produce the desired amount of energy from the infrared radiation. 

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