inventions and innovations in science 237
kilometer long. Due to their short wavelength, X-rays are already indispensable for the analysis of protein structure, synthetic molecules, new materials and many other objects. The
size and affordability of such X-ray lasers are major obstacles
that hinder the widespread use of compact X-ray lasers. Creating compact X-ray lasers is the challenge that accelerator
science now needs to confront.
Particle accelerators have already impacted many areas
of our lives with their medical and industrial uses, as well
as with their help in creating research instruments. Tens of
millions of patients receive accelerator-based diagnoses and
treatments each year, worldwide. The total annual market
value for all products that are treated or inspected by accelerators is more than $500B. 8 Approximately 30% of the Nobel
prizes in physics, as well as many in other areas, are directly
connected to the use of accelerators. 9
The ideas that enabled the use of accelerators in everyday
life and industry were developed decades ago. New ideas will
be essential for ensuring the future impact of this field.
Conventional accelerators, no matter how advanced they
may be, are primarily based on the acceleration of particles
in cavities — metal vessels shaped to resonate and create accelerating fields. The ability of metals to tolerate high electromagnetic fields is intrinsically limited. However, an accelerating wave can be created when gas is ionized and excited
by an intense beam of particles or by a laser pulse, becoming
plasma. Plasma is an indestructible medium and is able to
withstand a thousand-times-higher accelerating gradient.
Accelerator science and technology is on the edge of a
breakthrough brought on by synergy with laser and plasma
physics. The most immediate outcome that this synergy will
enable is the creation of novel, compact X-ray lasers and
light sources. The direct collision of beam and laser light
also opens up another opportunity for the creation of X-ray
sources via the use of the Compton effect (when visible light
photons are reflected from a relativistic electron beam and
thereby decrease their wavelength down to Angstrom levels).
Science is indeed the driver of our civilization’s progress.
However, the journey from initial ideas and experimental
demonstrations to widespread commercial applications is
long and difficult. Various studies performed in different
countries have all found a gap, a so-called “Valley of Death”
in technology transfer. It is difficult to bridge the middle
range of the technological readiness of ideas. On one end, the
research institutions are usually not positioned to develop
ideas into commercial applications, while on the other end,
the risk is often too high for industry to pick up ideas that
are too fresh and undeveloped.
8 Accelerators for America’s Future, Department of Energy, 2009.
9 E. Haussecker and A. Chao, Physics in Perspective, 2011.
kilometer long. Due to their short wavelength, X-rays are already indispensable for the analysis of protein structure, synthetic molecules, new materials and many other objects. The
size and affordability of such X-ray lasers are major obstacles
that hinder the widespread use of compact X-ray lasers. Creating compact X-ray lasers is the challenge that accelerator
science now needs to confront.
Particle accelerators have already impacted many areas
of our lives with their medical and industrial uses, as well
as with their help in creating research instruments. Tens of
millions of patients receive accelerator-based diagnoses and
treatments each year, worldwide. The total annual market
value for all products that are treated or inspected by accelerators is more than $500B. 8 Approximately 30% of the Nobel
prizes in physics, as well as many in other areas, are directly
connected to the use of accelerators. 9
The ideas that enabled the use of accelerators in everyday
life and industry were developed decades ago. New ideas will
be essential for ensuring the future impact of this field.
Conventional accelerators, no matter how advanced they
may be, are primarily based on the acceleration of particles
in cavities — metal vessels shaped to resonate and create accelerating fields. The ability of metals to tolerate high electromagnetic fields is intrinsically limited. However, an accelerating wave can be created when gas is ionized and excited
by an intense beam of particles or by a laser pulse, becoming
plasma. Plasma is an indestructible medium and is able to
withstand a thousand-times-higher accelerating gradient.
Accelerator science and technology is on the edge of a
breakthrough brought on by synergy with laser and plasma
physics. The most immediate outcome that this synergy will
enable is the creation of novel, compact X-ray lasers and
light sources. The direct collision of beam and laser light
also opens up another opportunity for the creation of X-ray
sources via the use of the Compton effect (when visible light
photons are reflected from a relativistic electron beam and
thereby decrease their wavelength down to Angstrom levels).
Science is indeed the driver of our civilization’s progress.
However, the journey from initial ideas and experimental
demonstrations to widespread commercial applications is
long and difficult. Various studies performed in different
countries have all found a gap, a so-called “Valley of Death”
in technology transfer. It is difficult to bridge the middle
range of the technological readiness of ideas. On one end, the
research institutions are usually not positioned to develop
ideas into commercial applications, while on the other end,
the risk is often too high for industry to pick up ideas that
are too fresh and undeveloped.
8 Accelerators for America’s Future, Department of Energy, 2009.
9 E. Haussecker and A. Chao, Physics in Perspective, 2011.