Beam's Eye View

The Fermilab Linac is the first in several stages of particle accelerators used to create high energy protons. Once they reach design energy, we smash them into various targets to make different kinds of sub-atomic particles for measurement. The whole cavity is big enough for a person to fit inside. During normal operation it is evacuated to 1/10000000000 standard atmospheric pressure and beams of negative Hydrogen atoms (one proton & two electrons) whiz though 15x per second and are accelerated by a 4MW radio wave. By the end of the 500-foot Linac the beam is moving about three-quarters of the speed of light. This view looks directly as you might see it if you could ride inside the bunch of ions. This cavity is about 30 feet long and a bit under a yard in diameter. Disclaimer: I might have these numbers not 100% correct - I'm not a Linac guy; I'm more into synchrotrons.

LRF-4 Drift Tube, Post Couplers & Bulk Tuner

The Fermilab Linac is the first in several stages of particle accelerators used to create high energy protons. Once they reach design energy, we smash them into various targets to make different kinds of sub-atomic particles for measurement. The whole cavity is big enough for a person to fit inside. During normal operation it is evacuated to 1/10000000000 standard atmospheric pressure and beams of negative Hydrogen atoms (one proton & two electrons) whiz though 15x per second and are accelerated by a 4MW radio wave. By the end of the 500-foot Linac the beam is moving about three-quarters of the speed of light. This view is off to the side of the axis of acceleration; beam travels down the center of the cavity through the tube suspended from the cieling. This cavity is about 30 feet long and a bit under a yard in diameter. Disclaimer: I might have these numbers not 100% correct - I'm not a Linac guy; I'm more into synchrotrons.

LRF4 Drifttubes & Post Couplers

An artistic view of the cavity's innards.