GRK 2128:  Accelerator Science and Technology for Energy Recovery Linacs

• Subject Area: Particles, Nuclei and Fields
• Term: since 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 264883531

Particle accelerators are indispensable high-tech tools for fundamental research and increasingly for industry and medical diagnosis or therapy. Their operation and development requires well-trained specialists. An emerging class of new particle accelerators allows for the substantial recovery of the kinetic energy stored in the particle beam by a phase-specific recirculation of the high-energy beam into the superconducting electromagnetic resonator cavities initially used for particle acceleration, such that the particles are decelerated down to the initial injection energy by energy loss to the cavity mode. Such energy-recovery linacs can potentially provide the highest beam intensities of linear accelerators.This Research Training Group (RTG) "AccelencE" addresses for the first time a structured promotion programme at German universities for research on ERLs. Thirty junior researchers profit currently from the exceptional situation at both participating universities: the superconducting recirculating electron linear accelerator S-DALINAC at TU Darmstadt has been established within this RTG as the first German accelerator which was successfully operated in an ERL scheme; at JGU Mainz the first high-current ERL to be operated at a German university, called MESA, is scheduled for construction within the PRISMA+ cluster of excellence. The research and qualification programme makes use of this unique situation where junior researchers from the fields of nuclear and accelerator physics and electrical en-gineering collaborate on intertwined research projects on the topic of physics and technology of ERLs.TU Darmstadt and JGU Mainz have a long tradition in the operation of recirculating electron accelera-tors in an academic environment where the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) at Darm-stadt represents the currently biggest ion accelerator complex under construction for international basic research. The junior researchers participating in the “AccelencE” programme collaborate in a cross-university framework on research projects from five closely related fields: electron sources for the beam production, injectors and acceleration materials, beam diagnostics and digital accelerator-control systems, beam dynamics of particle beams in ERLs, and highly-resolving detector systems for the exploi-tation of electron beams. The qualification programme aims at the education of the next generation of scientists in the field of particle accelerators.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Darmstadt
• Co-Applicant Institution: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Lambert Alff; Dr. Michaela Arnold; Professor Dr. Kurt Aulenbacher; Dr. Jonny Birkhan; Professor Dr. Oliver Boine-Frankenheim; Professor Dr.-Ing. Herbert De Gersem; Professorin Dr. Tetyana Galatyuk; Privatdozent Dr. Erion Gjonaj; Dr. Robert Heine; Professor Dr. Florian Hug; Professor Dr.-Ing. Harald Klingbeil; Professorin Dr. Atoosa Meseck; Professor Dr. Norbert Andreas Pietralla; Dr. Volker Werner
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Joachim Enders, since 1/2021