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Particle Accelerators and Beams Conference 2025
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Europe/London
Martin Wood Lecture Theatre
Martin Wood Lecture Theatre
Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU
Alan Letchford,
Andy Smith
(University of Manchester),
Dan Turner
(CERN),
David Dunning,
David Kelliher
(STFC),
Glenn Christian
(Diamond Light Source),
Hayley Cavanagh
(STFC - RAL - ISIS),
Kay Dewhurst,
Stephen Gibson
(Royal Holloway, University of London)
Description
The IOP Particle Accelerators and Beams group invite the community to our two-day Annual Conference, the UK’s premier national event in the field of particle accelerators! The scientific programme will feature plenary and keynote talks, a panel discussion, parallel sessions and a poster session. The conference is intended to bring the entire community together for two days of vibrant physics discussion, knowledge sharing and networking. We encourage participants at all career stages, from PhD, through postdocs, to senior professors and industry partners to attend.
This year, we welcome you to Oxford for an in-person conference on 9-10 July 2025, hosted jointly by Diamond Light Source, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source and the John Adams Institute, University of Oxford.
Participants can take the opportunity to tour facilities at the Harwell Campus, including Diamond Light Source, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source and EPAC. This promises to be a very special event, and we hope that you will join us for this exciting UK conference!
We strongly encourage colleagues to submit an abstract for a poster or oral presentation.
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09:00
Registration
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1
Conference WelcomeSpeaker: Andy Smith (University of Manchester)
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2
Welcome to OxfordSpeaker: Philip Nicholas Burrows (University of Oxford (GB))
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4
RELIEF project - Reducing the environmental impact of leather tanningSpeaker: Robert Apsimon
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10:40
Coffee 🍵
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5
Panel discussion: Future funding of accelerator science and technologySpeakers: Prof. Jim Clarke, Nick Bazin, Peter Ratoff (Lancaster University), Philip Nicholas Burrows (University of Oxford (GB)), Richard D'Arcy (University of Oxford), Stewart boogert (Royal Holloway, University of London)
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12:20
Lunch 🥗
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6
Magnet Simulation
The combination of Maxwell's equations and finite element methods have been phenomenally successful in solving electromagnetic problems of all kinds. Multiple software packages have been created for design and simulation of electromagnetic devices, of which Dassault Systemes SIMULIA Opera is one such example. SIMULIA Opera is formulated and optimized in particular for the design and simulation of particle accelerator magnets, having started life at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in 1984.
Tools like Opera have enabled the precise design of high precision permanent magnet, electromagnet and superconducting magnet systems, which have performed as required in facilities all over the world.
What sort of problems remain that provide challenges for magnet simulation? This talk will give an overview of the general topic, then have a look at what is required to explore some of these advanced challenges, through the lens of several recent SIMULIA Opera customer engagements.Speaker: Ben Pine -
7
Mechanical Engineering for Diamond II Accelerators
This talk explores the mechanical engineering efforts behind the design and construction of the D-II accelerators, with a focus on the integration of precision mechanical systems, magnets and vacuum systems.
We will delve into the unique challenges posed by the D-II’s compact lattice design and high-brightness beam requirements, highlighting solutions developed for thermal management, alignment tolerances, and vibration isolation.Speaker: Walter Tizzano -
14:20
Coffee 🍵
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Parallel talks: Parallel Session I - (Martin Wood Lecture Theatre)
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8
First High Energy Beam from the CLARA Electron Accelerator and Current Commissioning Progress
CLARA is an ultrabright electron beam test facility at STFC Daresbury Laboratory, aiming to provide high-quality, ultra-short electron bunches with charges up to 250 pC. CLARA is currently undergoing technical systems commissioning, in preparation for final beam commissioning in the summer of 2025. As part of the commissioning process, CLARA has achieved many of its major milestones, including: first electron beams from a new high-repetition rate 1.5 cell electron gun; acceleration beyond the design momentum of 250 MeV/c utilising three 4m long linacs; and first bunch compression and diagnosis using the variable bunch compressor (VBC) and transverse deflecting cavity (TDC) respectively. Each of these milestones brings CLARA one step closer to achieving its stated aim of being one of Europe’s leading high-brightness, medium energy electron user facilities. This talk will outline the current progress and milestones of CLARA commissioning, as well as reviewing the next steps and future potential of the CLARA accelerator.
Speaker: Thomas Pacey (STFC Daresbury Laboratory) -
9
Emittance Measurements and Beam Optics Matching for CLARA
CLARA is an ultrabright electron beam test facility at STFC Daresbury Laboratory, providing high-quality electron bunches with charges up to 250 pC. CLARA has recently resumed operations after a major upgrade, and is currently undergoing beam commissioning at its nominal momentum (250 MeV/c) and repetition rate (100 Hz). Accurate measurements of the transverse beam optics will be essential for routine accelerator operations, and for optimising the machine’s performance. During CLARA commissioning, a variety of techniques will be used to characterise the transverse optics, ranging from simple quadrupole scans to four-dimensional phase space tomography. In this contribution, we describe the development of high-level software for measuring and matching the beam optics at multiple locations along the CLARA lattice. This application has been developed as part of a wider, modular CLARA software environment, and tested extensively using a virtual control system with hardware simulation. We present preliminary emittance measurements at key locations along CLARA, using data from the early stages of beam commissioning.
Speaker: Mark Johnson (STFC Daresbury Laboratory) -
10
Conclusions from the UK XFEL conceptual design and options analysis project
UK XFEL is a multi-stage project to pursue 'next-generation’ XFEL capabilities, either through developing a new facility in the UK or by investing at existing machines. The project’s Science Case envisages a step-change increase in the number of simultaneous experiments, with transform-limited (‘laser-like’) x-rays across a wide range of pulse durations and photon energies (up to ~20 keV) being delivered together with an array of synchronised sources, at high repetition rate to approximately ten FELs (evenly spaced pulses at approximately 100 kHz per experiment, with flexibility). A subset of applications require increased pulse energy and higher photon energies at low repetition rate or in short bursts. The project is now in the final year of its three-year conceptual design and options analysis phase, in which it has produced a conceptual design to efficiently meet these requirements, as well as conducting an analysis of the costs, socio-economic factors, and sustainability of the different investment options.
Speaker: David Dunning (STFC Daresbury Laboratory) -
11
Beam Brightness Preservation in a High-Brightness Free-Electron Laser Driver
X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) facilities rely on high-brightness electron bunches to deliver coherent, laser-like pulses on the femtosecond time scale at short wavelengths. Developments in electron sources and injector technology are pushing the limits on the beam emittance and energy spread, aiming to increase the bunch density in 6D phase space in order to optimise the properties of the FEL radiation produced. The collective interactions of electrons within the bunch, when confined to a small volume, can dilute the electron bunch brightness, particularly along an acceleration and transport line that can reach over a kilometre in length. This contribution presents the strategies envisaged for preserving beam brightness in the context of the conceptual design of the UK XFEL, with a particular focus on novel techniques for mitigating collective interactions during bunch length compression. It is demonstrated that multiple approaches are available that can meet the stringent requirements on the electron bunch to produce high-quality FEL radiation.
Speaker: Alexander Brynes (STFC Daresbury Laboratory) -
12
Plasma-based energy and brightness booster stages for the UK XFEL
The UK XFEL project envisions a transformative approach to the next-generation X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) development by integrating emerging accelerator concepts [1] within its Conceptual Design and Options Analysis (CDOA) framework. As part of a future upgrade pathway, the project aims to ensure long-term scientific impact by exploring compact, efficient, high-performance solutions for beam energy and brightness enhancement. Among these, plasma-based acceleration stages offer a disruptive opportunity to realize ultra-compact, high-gradient electron energy boosters, essential for advancing XFEL capabilities beyond conventional limits. This contribution presents a pathway for the self-consistent incorporation of advanced accelerator technologies into the UK XFEL architecture, uniquely leveraging the facility’s anticipated capabilities [2]. The proposed integration strategy highlights the potential to position the UK XFEL at the forefront of global light source innovation.
[1] J. Marangos et al., “UK XFEL Science Case,” UK Research
and Innovation, Science and Technology Facilities Council,
Tech. Rep., 2020.[2] A. F. Habib et al., “Energy and brightness-boosted electron
beams from plasma-based accelerators,” presented at the 41st
International Free Electron Laser Conf. (FEL’24), Warsaw,
Poland, Aug. 2024Speaker: Ahmad Fahim Habib (University of Strathclyde)
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8
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Parallel talks: Parallel Session II (Lindemann) Lindemann
Lindemann
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The VENOM Project
The VENOM (Variable Energy Neutron Output Machine) project is a proposed new neutron facility for AWE Nuclear Security Technology (United Kingdom), as a successor to the AWE’s current historic ASP neutron source.
The status and plans for this proposed facility will be presented.
The VENOM project aims to deliver a future experimental data factory designed to produce high quality nuclear data and an upgraded neutron irradiation capability for the United Kingdom’s AWE Nuclear Security Technology. The current concept consists of three accelerator systems to cover a range of requirements.
The first system is a higher energy and tuneable neutron source to produce a variable quasi-monoenergetic peak neutron energy in the range of 0.5 to ~25 MeV using the p(Li, d(d, d(Li reactions. The current concept for this system is pushing for a brightness of ~1x10⁹ to ~1x10¹¹ neutrons per second per cm² on small samples of interest over the full energy range available.
The second system is a low energy, very bright accelerator driven D-T and D-D (~14 MeV and ~3 MeV) neutron source with the aim to be able to produce neutrons of up to 1x10¹³ per second per cm² on small samples of interest.
The third accelerator system will be for high energy Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Where this system will be tasked with measuring radioactive materials, to enable the measurements of radioactive cross-sections when conventional decay spectroscopy is not feasible. The concept will also include a full suite of field diagnostics to ensure measurements obtained will provide all data required for modern data measurements to a level expected by evaluators.
UK Ministry of Defence © Crown owned copyright 2025/AWE
Speaker: Simon Rice (AWE PLC) -
14
Muon Cooling for a Muon Collider
Production of high brightness muon beams is of interest for a number of applications. Surface muon beams, produced from decay of pions at rest in a target, are used for muon spin resonance measurements to probe material properties and spectroscopic analysis of muon decay products. Higher energy muons arising from cosmic rays have been used for tomography and there is interest in producing artificial muon sources for this application. Study of properties of muons such as exotic decay modes or muon spin precession may yield insight into fundamental physics that is in tension with the standard model of particle physics. Acceleration and collision of bright muon beams may enable a direct probe of the standard model, as proposed by the International Muon Collider Collaboration.
Production of muon beams is done by firing protons onto a target to produce pions, which subsequently decay to muons. The resultant muon beams are rather diffuse compared to proton or electron beams. Beam cooling has been proposed as a technique to increase beam phase space density. In this talk I will review the latest developments in ionisation cooling at ISIS, including an overview of the cooling system for the muon collider, prospects for construction of a muon cooling demonstrator and studies underway for muon cooling on the ISIS muon beam lines.
Speaker: Chris Rogers -
15
Laser energised Travelling Charge Accelerator for nuclear medicine and beyond
Proton accelerators are central to a wide range of applications, particularly in healthcare—for radioisotope production in nuclear medicine and precision cancer therapy. The Laser-Driven Travelling-Wave Accelerator (L-TWA) introduces a compact, high-gradient alternative to conventional RF-based systems. This approach leverages intense laser-plasma interactions to generate picosecond electromagnetic pulses (ps-EMPs), which are guided through a helical coil structure engineered to act as a miniature travelling-wave accelerator.
This centimetre-scale device captures, focuses, and post-accelerates broadband laser-driven proton beams, achieving accelerating gradients on the order of GeV/m—surpassing conventional RF technology by at least an order of magnitude. Crucially, the L-TWA provides phase-space rotation in picosecond time scales, enabling the generation of sub-nanosecond, quasi-monoenergetic proton pulses, a feature not attainable with traditional accelerator systems
The accelerator is modular and scalable, allowing staged configurations to reach therapeutically relevant energies (100–200 MeV). Its compact footprint, low shielding requirements, and on-demand operation make it particularly suited for point-of-care deployment in hospitals and decentralised production of medical isotopes. Additionally, the system’s adaptability to other ion species, such as alpha particles or carbon ions, further broadens its biomedical utility.
With its high repetition rate potential and efficient laser-to-beam energy transfer, this novel platform offers a cost-effective and accessible pathway to next-generation ion beam sources. By bridging advancements in laser-plasma physics with accelerator science, the L-TWA paves the way for transformative applications in nuclear medicine, radiotherapy, and beyond.
Speaker: Satyabrata Kar (Queen's University Belfast) -
16
Communicating high-level environmental sustainability guidelines for large accelerator facilities
In the coming decades, numerous designs for new accelerator-based facilities, or potential upgrades to current facilities, have been proposed to support the next generation of scientific advancement. While these facilities have significant scientific, economic, and societal benefits, they also require considerable resources to operate effectively. Amid the ongoing climate crisis, these facilities face the challenge of balancing the need for increased scientific output, size, and/or power with the global need to reduce resource consumption. This challenge presents a unique opportunity to integrate innovative environmental impact reduction techniques into their design.
The presented living document offers high-level guidelines to enhance environmental sustainability across the planning, construction, operation, and decommissioning stages of large accelerator facilities. It consolidates various resources and highlights both existing and proposed practices to inspire more sustainable approaches.Speaker: Hannah Wakeling (University of Oxford) -
17
ECFA-UK: Lessons, Progress, and Opportunities for UK Accelerator Science
The European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA) advises CERN and its member states on long-term planning for European high-energy facilities, fostering coordination across laboratories, universities, and international organisations.
Since late 2024, ECFA-UK has consulted the particle physics community—including related areas such as accelerators, computing, and detector development—to reach a broad consensus on the UK’s input to the 2026 update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPPU). This includes articulation of national accelerator priorities within the wider European context. Coordinated through the UK ECFA delegation, the process offers insight into how the UK organises and contributes to this collective planning — an overview of the approach, outcomes, and lessons for the accelerator community will be presented.
The presentation will also report on progress towards the UK’s engagement with CERN, as set out in the STFC and DSIT strategy published in October 2023. Implementation efforts aim to create practical routes through which UK accelerator science can align with and influence CERN’s evolving programmes.
It will further summarise key points from the 2025 JENAS (Joint ECFA-NuPECC-ApPEC) symposium and the 2024 Plenary ECFA (P-ECFA) visit to the UK. Both events provided valuable perspectives on Europe-wide coordination across particle, nuclear, and astro-particle physics, and offered feedback relevant to UK accelerator efforts and international positioning.
The presentation will conclude by reflecting on how the UK accelerator community might further strengthen its voice, visibility, and influence in shaping Europe’s scientific direction.
Speaker: Haroon Rafique (STFC / ECFA)
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13
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Parallel talks: Parallel Session III (Simpkins Lee) Simpkins Lee
Simpkins Lee
Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PUConvener: Neven Blaskovic Kraljevic-
18
Coherent Stability versus Dynamic Aperture – Pushing the High-Intensity Frontier for Hadron Beam Production
Synchrotrons often employ octupole magnets to Landau dampen coherent transverse instabilities, at the expense of restricting the dynamic aperture due to the excitation of betatron resonances. A very good example is the CERN Large Hadron Collider, where the octupole current required for beam stabilisation strongly impacted beam lifetime during Run 2. At the high-intensity frontier, the situation complicates in the presence of strong direct space charge fields. A notable case is the FAIR heavy-ion synchrotron SIS100 (presently under construction at the Facility of Antiproton and Ion Research), which is designed to accumulate highest beam intensities during a 1-second injection plateau. We discuss these major limitations at the high-intensity frontier and present mitigation strategies, with the goal to ensure coherent stability without affecting dynamic aperture.
Speaker: Adrian Oeftiger (University of Oxford) -
19
Diffusion
Physics routinely conspires to enlarge a beam's emittance. Storage ring designers and modellers, in order to provide realistic predictions, must remain aware of different sources (causes) of emittance. In this talk, I try to make the case for why diffusion processes, an often underappreciated lens with which to see electron dynamics, is likely the cause of emittance growth within your system. As such, perhaps as a community we should be taking more seriously the idea that the standard way of solving problems for electron systems may not always be best. Put simply, electrons are not protons!
The aim of this talk is to excite you about diffusion within beam dynamics and, crucially, convince you that the effects of randomness should be taken more seriously. By also featuring some of my own work and calculations, I hope to persuade you to try looking at the world with a pair of diffusion goggles.
Speaker: Seb Wilkes (University of Oxford) -
20
Acceleration-Induced Self-Interactions of Ultra-Short Electron Bunches
We present a theoretical description of the radiative and space-charge intra-bunch interaction of a compact charged bunch undergoing high-field acceleration relevant to LWFA, PWFA conditions. The effects during the process of acceleration are considered specifically, in contrast to previous work that assumes an instantaneous change in energy and examines the post-acceleration interaction with radiated fields.
For compact bunches (i.e. volume is < O(1)um^3) there is a significant modification to the space-charge and radiation field interactions within the bunch in the presence of high gradient acceleration, with the fields being asymmetric with respect to the centroid of the bunch. We find these effects to be significant for acceleration fields of order GV/m and charges exceeding 10pC, with potential to provide a mean energy loss on the order of 0.1-1% of the energy gained, and a head-tail energy difference of similar magnitude.
The model points to an inherent vacuum beam-loading process within compact bunches that is exacerbated rather than compensated by higher gradient acceleration fields.
Speaker: Ryan McGuigan (Lancaster University) -
21
Proton beam divergence measurements from radiation pressure driven shock acceleration
Laser-plasma ion acceleration is a well established field of research, with several mechanisms being exploited to produce high energy, short particle beams.
Scaling laws show that both the laser's vector potential, and the critical density scale favorably with laser wavelength. Hence the long wavelength (9.2μm) CO₂ laser at the Brookhaven National Laboratories is the ideal choice for exploring radiation pressure acceleration using gaseous targets.
The work carried out by the Imperial group at BNL has demonstrated steady ion production in the scenario where the laser interacts with the gas-jet from a supersonic nozzle.
Significant gains in the ion energies were obtained when employing the laser's pre-pulse to shape the target and form blast waves. This approach produced low divergence, ~1MeV mono-energetic ion beams. The results are backed by PIC simulations which give insights on the acceleration dynamics.
Thanks to a short-pulse probe beam it was possible to accurately image the laser-target interaction using interferometry. An innovative proton spatial diagnostic, which allowed us to quantify the divergence of the ion beams, was also fielded.
Measuring particle divergence is a crucial first step towards optimising the coupling between beams and transport lines, which is essential for all applications of ion acceleration.
Speaker: Ginevra Casati (Imperial College) -
22
Terahertz-manipulated electron bunches for external injection into a laser-plasma wakefield accelerator
There is a growing demand for generating and transporting short femtosecond-scale, high-charge-density relativistic electron bunches. Applications range from extreme light sources such as free-electron lasers (FELs) to future linear colliders and plasma accelerators. Laser-plasma wakefield accelerators (LWFA) offer a promising approach for compact high-gradient acceleration. However, electrons generated directly from the plasma in a non-linear self-injection process result in poor stability with limited control. External injection from a conventional accelerator into the plasma provides a solution but requires extremely short electron bunches with precise control over their parameters, which is currently limited by the compression and timing jitter achievable with conventional radio-frequency accelerators.
We have previously shown that laser-driven terahertz (THz) manipulation of electron bunches can enable phase-locked, laser-synchronized compression of high-charge bunches with suppressed time jitter. Here, using computational methods, we explore the external injection of such THz-manipulatted electron bunches into a LWFA. By utilizing intrinsic synchronization and THz-driven energy manipulation, we demonstrate significant compression of electron bunches with suppressed time jitter, enabling optimal and stable injection into the LWFA while preserving high bunch quality during acceleration. Our novel scheme provides a future route for staging to higher energies, overcoming key challenges and unlocking the full potential of LWFAs.
Speaker: Aras Amini (University of Manchester)
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Poster session Martin Wood Complex
Martin Wood Complex
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Conference dinner + Prizes 🥇 Blavatnik School of Government
Blavatnik School of Government
120 Walton St, Oxford OX2 6GGPoster prize and Group prize winners announced
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09:00
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24
HALHF - A hybrid, asymmetric, linear Higgs factory based on plasma-wakefield and radio-frequency accelerationSpeaker: Richard D'Arcy (University of Oxford)
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25
NOMAD - Compact accelerators for Cultural Heritage
Ion Beam Accelerators and Synchrotron light sources have provided researchers with powerful techniques to analyse objects of cultural significance in a non-destructive and non-invasive manner. However, in many cases it is not be feasible to remove an object from the field or museum and transport it to the laboratory. NOMAD aims to address this challenge through investigating the feasibility of a compact accelerator that can be taken to sites of cultural significance for Ion Beam Analysis (IBA). One such candidate for a compact accelerator is a high frequency RFQ accelerator. We will share preliminary results assessing damage induced by short pulse protons from CERN’s ELISA 750 MHz RFQ accelerator and continuous beam at Surrey Ion Beam accelerator.
Speaker: Tessa Charles (Australian Synchrotron (AU)) -
26
EPAC - Applications of Extreme Photonics
Plasma accelerators are now considered “mature enough” for driving super-bright energetic radiation and particle sources for applications cutting across a multitude of areas in society. Currently, facilities based on plasma accelerators are under design and construction both in the UK and in Europe. In the UK, we are building and commissioning a new national facility, the Extreme Photonics Applications Centre (EPAC), which is due to start operations in 2027. Plasma accelerators driven by the 10Hz Petawatt laser in EPAC can yield bright, beam-like, high-energy x-rays, electrons, protons, ions, neutrons, and muons, opening up new areas of science and applications for exploration. I will outline the status of EPAC and some of the potential applications it would look to exploit.
Speaker: Rajeev Pattathil -
10:40
Coffee 🍵
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Parallel talks: Parallel session IV (Martin Wood Lecture Theatre) Martin Wood Lecture theatre
Martin Wood Lecture theatre
Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU-
27
RF breakdown detection and localization using optical fibers
RF cavity breakdowns present a limitation in high-gradient accelerators. Precise diagnostics are required to identify these breakdown events and potentially predict and mitigate them. These functions are critical for ensuring operational stability and preventing damage to the cavities from these events. This contribution presents the use of an optical fiber beam loss monitor, positioned along the beam line as a distributed sensor, optimized to localize breakdowns within the RF cavity.
The monitor uses Cherenkov radiation, which is produced when relativistic particles pass through the fiber. The sensor detects Cherenkov radiation from the breakdown-induced charge shower, which propagates bidirectionally to both fiber ends. Using time-of-arrival analysis of the signals received at each end of the fiber, the method can find differences in their timing to pinpoint the breakdown event location/time, potentially helping to identify breakdown hotspots rapidly. This technique has the advantages of being both non-invasive and scalable to any number of cavities, and the primary application is the development of a real-time RF breakdown diagnostic that can be used to monitor conditioning procedures and cavity performance.
Current experimental results demonstrate successful localization with an installation at CLARA (STFC, UK) during RF conditioning. The technique offers advantages over other breakdown detectors since it provides longitudinal coverage along the structure while operating with a single and non-invasive element. Future developments will focus on building real-time processing capabilities for the monitor and studying the implementation of machine learning techniques for classification or prediction of events, with the long-term goal of integrating the monitor into an operating accelerator and machine protection system.
Speaker: Ana Maria Guisao Betancur (University of Liverpool) -
28
Crosstalk studies of storage and booster ring DII magnets
The design of the Diamond II Booster and Storage ring include magnets with hard edge model separations of as little as 75 mm. After the inclusion of differing iron yoke lengths and coil overhang, the actual distance between magnet extremities is much lower. With such a small separation between magnets, it is crucial to study, simulate and measure crosstalk effects arising between magnets. This presentation focuses on the studies done to simulate and identify crosstalk effects in both the storage and booster ring as well as the measures taken to minimize these effects depending on the different combinations of magnets. Crosstalk effects arising from adjacent magnets on dipoles were looked at thoroughly in both the storage and booster ring and the results for the same are presented herewith.
Speaker: Syed Rishan Ahamad (Diamond Light Source) -
29
Optimization of Gas-Curtain based Ionization Profile Monitor for Laser-Driven Proton Therapy Applications
FLASH proton therapy, enabled by ultra-high dose rates, offers enhanced tumour control with reduced damage to healthy tissue. Laser-driven proton sources are a promising compact solution, but their intense, pulsed beams pose challenges for conventional beam diagnostics. This work presents a minimally invasive real time diagnostics of such beams using gas-jet-based ionization profile monitor. It uses a thin gas-screen placed along the beam path, inside the vacuum, and captures beam-induced ionization on a Micro-Channel Plate (MCP) which is imaged via a CMOS camera.
The system was tested at the MC40 Cyclotron facility at University of Birmingham for various shape and sizes of proton beam with energy between 10.8-28 MeV at different beam currents. It demonstrated beam profile measurements within a few 100 ms. Further developments were made to make the system compact to facilitate the integration into medical accelerators. These developments were followed by CST simulations to configure the system which showed improved electric field uniformity, with 85% detection efficiency. The simulations showed that the fluctuations in the beam position can be monitored. It also revealed that the energy inhomogeneity in the extracted ions can be ±7% for beam sizes ≥10 mm which introduces profile distortion. Simulations can provide a parameter to account for this distortion to generate accurate beam profiles. The existing system is compatible with beam sizes up to 40 mm, encompassing the clinically relevant range. Further design improvements will be investigated to accommodate larger beam sizes for wider applications in ion beam therapy.
This work advances beam instrumentation for compact, high-intensity laser-driven proton/ion sources, addressing key challenges in beam diagnostics and control, critical to the development of next-generation accelerators and applications.Speaker: Farhana Thesni Mada Parambil (University of Liverpool) -
30
Microwave instability driven by terahertz-scale resistive-wall impedance in electron synchrotrons
Vacuum vessels of the Diamond-II storage ring feature metallic coatings which cause a resonator-like peak in the longitudinal impedance. This work demonstrates how different parameters of non-evaporable getter (NEG) coatings can increase momentum-spread growth. The first key insight of this study: The spread of the coating-layer thickness amongst vacuum vessels results in significantly reduced momentum-spread growth. Therefore, we recommend varying the coating thickness when designing vacuum components and modelling the impedance for a synchrotron light source. The second key insight of this study: Insertion devices featuring rectangular geometry and NEG coating might cause a multi-peak structure of the longitudinal impedance which can drive additional momentum-spread growth.
Speaker: Dmitrii Rabusov (Diamond Light Source)
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27
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Parallel talks: Parallel session V (Simpkins Lee) Simpkins Lee
Simpkins Lee
Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PUConvener: David Kelliher (ISIS)-
31
A Novel Moment-Based Particle In-Cell Code
Particle in-cell (PIC) codes as a means of simulating accelerator beams become resource intensive when simulation of the fine structure of a beam is necessary. We propose an alternative scheme wherein multiple macro-particles are replaced with super macro-particles; computational objects which encode not only the position and velocity data of a group of particles, but also some of the moments of the underlying particle distribution. By propagating the moments of the underlying distribution, the structure of the super macro-particle is allowed to evolve through time. We conjecture that this scheme will be able to simulate phenomena including bunching and inter-bunch interactions at a reduced resource cost.
Speaker: Finlay Gunneberg (Lancaster University) -
32
Multi-objective genetic algorithm optimisation of the Diamond-II storage ring optics
The design performance of the 3.5 GeV Diamond-II low-emittance electron storage ring has been studied as a function of the linear and nonlinear lattice tuning parameters. A Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) has been implemented and refined to optimise both the beam lifetime and the injection efficiency for off-axis injection. The simulations have been run on 5 machine error seeds, including misalignment and field strength errors, to obtain a solution which is robust against machine imperfections. The results of the optimisation are presented alongside a comparison of the baseline performance.
Speaker: Neven Blaskovic Kraljevic (Diamond Light Source) -
33
Efficient Free-Electron Laser Modelling Using a Lorentz-Boosted Coordinate System
Free Electron Lasers (FELs) are novel light sources capable of generating ultrashort, femtosecond-duration pulses via electron oscillations in electromagnetic fields. A defining advantage of FELs is that the radiation wavelength is inversely proportional to the square of the electron beam energy, allowing continuous and tunable access across the electromagnetic spectrum. At electron energies of 10 GeV, FELs can produce hard X-rays—wavelengths otherwise unattainable with conventional lasers. These X-rays, characterised by their high penetration and ultrashort wavelengths, are uniquely suited for applications such as imaging dense materials (e.g. bone tomography) and time-resolved probing of dynamic processes like shock wave propagation in metals.
Recent progress in compact free-electron laser (FEL) concepts, driven by laser and beam-plasma wakefield acceleration, has demonstrated exponential gain using electron beams with energies of a few hundred MeV. While wakefield acceleration offers a pathway to significantly more compact FEL systems, accurately modelling their performance remains computationally demanding. This challenge arises primarily from the vast scale disparity between the nanometre-scale radiation wavelength and the macroscopic length of the beamline. Moreover, at these relatively low electron energies, space-charge effects and beam emittance critically influence both the beam dynamics and overall FEL performance.
In this work, we employ boosted-frame particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to perform efficient, start-to-end modelling of the SPARC FEL. The use of a Lorentz-boosted frame leverages the Doppler redshift and length contraction, yielding a substantial computational speed-up that scales as γ². Simulations that would require over a month in the laboratory frame can be completed within hours in the boosted frame. Importantly, PIC simulations inherently capture self-consistent space-charge and emittance effects, making them ideally suited for exploring the beam dynamics and lasing behaviour in compact FEL systems.
Speaker: Runfeng Lu (Imperial College) -
34
Comparison of end-to-end simulations of a novel optical fibre beam loss monitor for Geant4- and FLUKA-based models
Development of an optical fibre-based beam loss monitor (OBLM) is in progress at the Cockcroft Institute, UK. It obtains the beam loss location via time-of-flight analysis of Cherenkov radiation (CR) produced in optical fibres by relativistic particle showers from beam loss events.
The OBLM system has shown capability to operate successfully in varied and challenging accelerator and radiation environments, such as attaining full beam loss position resolution despite considerable background signal from dark current in a nearby RF cavity and operating within the undulator section of a free-electron laser.
In these complex situations, it is helpful to use Monte Carlo simulations to estimate and understand potential sources of OBLM signal. Previous simulation work has all been performed using a mix of two codes: the FLUKA particle tracking code and a custom numerical Python code that simulates the propagation of Cherenkov radiation within the fibre.
The Geant4 code supports the simulation of Cherenkov radiation, enabling complete end-to-end simulations of the OBLM system without risk of information loss in the conversion from one simulation code to another. However, Geant4 tracks photons individually using a ray tracing method, which has potential to affect the simulated behaviour of the Cherenkov photons in the fibre.
This work compares the performance of a Geant4-based simulation to existing work performed in FLUKA with a simple beamline model. The differences in the Cherenkov radiation physics between the two codes are investigated and presented.
Preliminary results of Geant4 simulations based on a similar model are also presented, which consider the feasibility of estimating the beam energy from beam loss signals in the OBLM. This is relevant for potential applications of the OBLM system to accelerators with multi-energy beams, such as energy recovery LINACs (ERLs).Speaker: Angus Jones (University of Liverpool)
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12:00
Lunch
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Conference CloseSpeaker: Andy Smith (University of Manchester)
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Tours of accelerators on Harwell Campus
If you want to join a tour, please indicate this during registration or contact a committee member. Spaces may be limited.
Each delegate may attend 2 tours from the following options:
- Diamond Light Source
- ISIS Neutron and Muon Source
- EPAC (Extreme Photonic Applications Centre)-
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Bus to RAL site
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37
Tour of facility 1 Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
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15:15
Change over
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Tour of facility 2 Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
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39
Bus to Oxford
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