Introduction to Particle Accelerators (NPAP MOOC)

Lund University via Coursera

Coursera based on 199 ratings

Likes

Overview

Welcome to the Nordic Particle Accelerator Program's (NPAP) Massive Open Online Courses and to the fascinating world of particle accelerators! Did you know that in the year of 2000 there were more than 15 000 particle accelerators in the world? Yet, today it has grown to more than 30 000 of them! A third of the particle accelerators are dedicated to medical applications, such as radio therapy, and a half are used for ion implantation in semiconductor devices. Also numerous...

Syllabus

Accelerators for Synchrotron Light

This module is about photon light sources. In particular it describes how electromagnetic radiation is produced in particle accelerators. The wavelengths of the radiation that is created in accelerators range from several meters down to a few angstrom. These electromagnetic waves us to develop new materials and drugs, and also to reveal the inner structures of objects.

Photon light sources and MAX IV

This module explains how electromagnetic radiation can be created by accelerating particles and the different characteristics inherited. After a brief history of the discovery of synchrotron radiation the module focuses on the characteristics of synchrotron radiation and its features. The second part describes the magnetic devices that make electrons radiate light, while the third and last part is about Free Electron Lasers, a new type of light source that generates very coherent radiation.

Spallation sources and ESS

This module is about particle accelerators that create neutrons. It first describes how protons, or heavy ions, with large kinetic energies create neutrons as they are smashed into the nucleuses of heavy atoms, a process called spallation. It then discusses how the neutrons created in the spallation process can be used to reveal the atomic structures of materials and the inner structures of objects. The second part of the module gives a detailed description the European Spallation Source (ESS), located in Lund, Sweden. In particular it describes the different parts of the 600 meter long linear accelerator of ESS that accelerates protons to large kinetic energies.

Particle Colliders

This module describes particle colliders and explains why we need them. After a brief history of colliders it focuses on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is the worlds largest collider. This is followed by two lectures on linear colliders, exemplified by two proposed electron-positron colliders, CLIC and ILC. Finally the module discusses different options for the next generation of circular colliders.

Stay tuned for upcoming resources

We are constantly working on sharing more knowledge and fun resources with all of you! As such, we have created this module as a platform for more exciting new knowledge and materials that will be added to this course in the future as fun extra curricular activity! Notifications will be sent out to registered learners when we launch these updates, so stay tuned and keep an eye out for these updates in the future!