High-energy particle accelerators are helping researchers investigate the nature
of matter and the origins of the universe. Typical experiments involve carefully
controlled collisions between either intersecting particle beams or a particle
beam and an atomic-scale target. Subsequent analysis of the results may reveal
new insights about the building blocks of matter and the forces that hold them
together, answer questions about particles and dark matter, and provide clues
about the formation of the universe more than 13 billion years ago.
Creating particle collisions at nanometer scale and with picoseconds of duration
requires extreme precision in spatial and temporal control. At facilities such
as the European Organization for Nuclear Research, more commonly known
as CERN, and the Australian Synchrotron, high-performance Agilent Acqiris
digitizers are helping researchers achieve the levels of precision and control
they need to perform more and better experiments in less time. Key attributes
of the Agilent digitizers include high measurement throughput, very short “dead
time” between acquisitions, excellent measurement fidelity, compact size and
cost-effectiveness.
The remainder of this note describes the creation of high-energy particle beams,
the control of particle beams inside CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and
the control of electron beams that produce high-intensity light in the Australian
Synchrotron.
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? A variety of additional references are included at the end of the
note: These will help you learn more about these organizations, their facilities,
the history of synchrotrons, and more.