Manufacturing Bits: July 6

Luminosity record
Japan’s High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) has regained the world’s record for the highest luminosity achieved in a particle accelerator, beating the previous mark by CERN.

KEK achieved the record in the SuperKEKB, a giant storage ring that combines an electron-positron collider with an advanced detector. This system is designed to explore fundamental physics and sub-atomic particles. The storage ring system and detector are also designed to explore and measure rare decays of elementary particles.

The SuperKEKB achieved the world’s highest instantaneous luminosity for a colliding-beam accelerator, setting a record of 2.22 x 10³⁴ cm^-2s^-1. Luminosity is the measure of radiated electromagnetic power or light. Measured in joules per second or watts, luminosity is the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object.

The previous record was held by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) proton-proton collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). CERN is also developing a high luminosity version of the LHC.

The SuperKEKB is an international collaboration. The superconducting final-focusing magnets are built in cooperation with Brookhaven National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The collision-point orbit feedback system is developed by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and an X-ray beam size monitor are devised by the University of Hawaii and SLAC.

In operation, the SuperKEKB brings its electron and positron beams into collision at the center of the Belle II particle detector. The Belle II detector is 10 meters wide, 10 meters high and weighs 1,500 tons. The detector is designed by an international collaboration.

In the future, the luminosity of the SuperKEKB will be increased by 40 times over the current system. This will be achieved by using a beam collision method called the “nano-beam scheme.” This “increases the luminosity by using powerful magnets to squeeze the two beams in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Substantially decreasing the beam sizes increases the luminosity, which varies inversely with the cross-sectional area of the colliding beams,” according to KEK.

Faster X-ray diffraction
Argonne National Laboratory and others have formed a consortium to develop a new and faster X-ray metrology instrument.

This system, called the High-Throughput High-Energy Diffraction Microscopy Instrument (HT-HEDM), will utilize high-energy X-rays to enable non-destructive analysis of materials. It will provide three-dimensional (3D) images.

For years, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has operated a traditional X-ray diffraction system. This is located within the 1-ID beamline at the laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source (APS).

The new HT-HEDM technology is located in the 6-ID-D end-station at Argonne. The new system, along with the 1-ID beamline, delivers X-ray fluxes in the high-energy range (40-120 keV). It will enable high-throughput X-ray diffraction imaging, providing a one-stop shop for a range of different studies.

“One of the advantages of this kind of diffraction is that you can look at the same sample multiple times and see how its characteristics and structure change,” said Bob Suter, an emeritus professor of physics at Carnegie Mellon University and a founding member of the consortium.

The consortium building the instrument includes faculty at and funding from Carnegie Mellon University, Purdue University, the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Utah.

Dark energy
After some delays, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is finally moving towards the operational mode.

In the works for some time, the DESI system is a large unit mounted on top of the 4-meter Mayall Telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.

DESI is a complex unit with 5,000 fiber-optic eyes. It will measure the effect of dark energy in the universe as well as gather data for millions of galaxies and quasars in the sky. Then, the system will construct 3D maps of the universe spanning 11 billion light years.

The goal is to unravel the mysteries and origins of the universe. In theory, 4.9% of the universe consists of observable matter, such as protons, neutrons and electrons. Then, some 68.3% of the universe is dark energy, while the remaining 26.8% is dark matter.

Dark matter exists in the universe, but it is invisible to the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Thus, researchers have failed to directly observe or detect dark matter. Dark energy is also an unknown form of energy. It is believed that dark energy is driving the expansion of the universe.