What is the synchrotron

In the mid 50-ies of the last century in the Soviet Union was in full swing work on the ambitious installation, designed for the study of the microcosm. The giant structure was launched in 1957. Soviet scientists were unprecedented at the time the charged-particle accelerator called a synchrotron.

Why the need for a synchrotron

Essentially a synchrotron is a huge installation for the acceleration of charged particles. The speed of the elements in this device are very high, as released by the energy. Getting a picture of the mutual collision of the particles, the scientists can judge the properties of the material world and its structure.

About necessity of creation of accelerator was discussed even before the beginning of the great Patriotic war, when a group of Soviet physicists headed by academician A. Ioffe sent to the Soviet government a letter. It emphasizes the importance of creating a technical base for studying the structure of the atomic nucleus. These issues had already become the Central problem of natural Sciences, their solution would advance the applied science, military Affairs and energy.

In 1949 he started designing the first installation of the proton accelerator. This building was built 1957 in Dubna. The proton accelerator, called the synchrotron", is a structure of enormous dimensions. It is designed as a separate housing research Institute. The main part of the facility area is a magnetic ring with a diameter of about 60 m. It is required to create electromagnetic fields with desired characteristics. In the space of the magnet and the particle acceleration.

The principle of the synchrotron

The first powerful accelerator-the proton synchrotron was originally supposed to construct on the basis of a combination of two principles, before separately used in the Phasotron and synchrotron. The first of the principles – frequency electromagnetic field, the second level change of the magnetic field.

The synchrotron operates on the principle of cyclic accelerator. To guarantee the discovery of a new particle at the same equilibrium orbit, the frequency of the accelerating field changes. The particle beam always comes into the accelerating part of the installation in phase with the electric field of high frequency. Sometimes called synchrotron proton synchrotron with weak focusing. An important parameter of a synchrotron, the beam intensity, which is determined by the number of particles contained therein.

In a synchrotron is almost completely eliminated errors and deficiencies of its predecessor, the cyclotron. Changing the magnetic field and the frequency of recharging the particles, the proton accelerator increases the energy of the particles, directing them on the right course. The creation of this device has revolutionized the field of nuclear physics and was the beginning of a breakthrough in the study of charged particles.