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  1. Public
  2. For Education
  3. Simulations and Resources
  4. Simulations, Animations and Worksheets
  5. The Linac

The Linac

Navigate between the simulations

0. Synchrotron > 1. Electron Gun > 2. The Linac > 3. Dipole Magnets > 4. Vacuum > 5. Undulator > 6. Beamlines

Instructions

The simulation can be operated either manually or automatically.
  1. Click on AUTO FLIP to see how the linac should work.
  2. Select FLIP to try this for yourself
  3. When the electron is inside the first tube quickly press FLIP to invert the voltage on all the tubes
  4. When the electron leaves the first tube, it will be attracted to the next positive tube.
  5. Press FLIP again as soon as the electron is inside the second tube. Continue this until the electron reaches the end of the linac and see if you have reached a high enough energy!
  6. In real life, the polarity of the tubes changes millions of times per second!
     

In more depth

After electrons leave the electron gun they enter the linear accelerator, or linac. Here the electrons are accelerated to close to the speed of light before they enter the booster synchrotron.
 
In theory this could be achieved be passing the electrons through a very strong magnetic field. However in practice it is not possible to generate high enough voltages so a linac achieves the same goal by acclerating electrons through a series of smaller fields.
 
The electrons pass through a series of chambers with electric fields which alternate as the electrons pass through. This way the electrons always see a positive field ahead of them, which they accelerate towards. You can use AUTO FLIP to alternate the electric fields automatically, or use the FLIP button to try this for yourself!
 
You will notice that the tubes get longer as they go along: this is so that all the tubes can be powered by a single oscillator. When the electrons are travelling slowly they only travel a short distance before the polarity changes. The faster they go the further they travel before the polarity changes again.
 
At very high energies the electrons approach the speed of light, and increasing their energy no longer increases their speed. Instead, relativity means that their mass increases instead.
 
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Diamond Light Source is the UK's national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.

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