Harmonics of acceleration

The assembled three-cavity string for the third-harmonic cryomodule.

The majority of NewsLine readers are scientists - most of you of the experimental kind. So be honest: how often during the last few weeks, when listening to carols, plucking the strings of your old guitar that you only get out during the holidays or cringing at a dissonant brass band, did you think about the physics and the maths of music? Go to the ILCT-MDB Horizontal Test Stand at Fermilab now and you can experience a perfect third harmonic: that of a string of cavities being tested and assembled into a cryomodule.

The 3.9-Gigahertz "third harmonic" cryomodule is an essential ingredient to the FLASH free-electron laser at DESY in Hamburg, Germany, and one of Fermilab's contributions to the TESLA Technology Collaboration TTC that planned and built FLASH as a test facility for the superconducting radiofrequency technology needed for the ILC. Within FLASH, it will sit in front of the regular 1.3-Gigahertz accelerating cryomodules and play an essential role in the sorting and squeezing of the electron bunches. Unlike the regular ones that are supposed to accelerate the particle bunches as efficiently as possible, this module actually makes the energy distribution within the bunch more linear, which reduces the longitudinal emittance, thus leading to the production of brighter laserlight for users at the other end.

-- Barbara Warmbein

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Register now for Fermilab Family Open House Jan. 17

This year's Fermilab Family Open House will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17.

The Open House offers family-style, hands-on activities, science shows and behind-the-scenes tours of the Linac Gallery, the CDF assembly building and the Meson lab. The event will offer hourly cryogenics shows by Jerry Zimmerman as "Mr. Freeze," kids racing against a gravity accelerator, the popular Ask-a-Scientist session on the 15th floor of Wilson Hall and tours of the linear particle accelerator and two research areas on site.

The event is free of charge. More information and advance registration is available here.

House economic stimulus bill would provide billions in new science, energy and education dollars

From AIP FYI, Jan. 15, 2009

This morning the House Appropriations Committee, chaired by Rep. Dave Obey (D-WI) released a 13-page summary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009. The legislation would provide billions of dollars in new science, technology, energy and education funding this year. In doing so, it reflects the views of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the Democratic leadership on the role of science, technology, and innovation. As detailed in FYI #3, Speaker Pelosi stated, "We all know that in business or in science or in education, capital attracts talent. You have to have the labs. And talent attracts capital. And so we want to make very wise investments in this recovery package so it is about innovation." This $825 billion proposed bill demonstrates the leadership's commitment to their approach.

The following are excepts from the House Appropriations Committee's summary:

"The economy is in a crisis not seen since the Great Depression.

"Credit is frozen, consumer purchasing power is in decline, in the last four months the country has lost 2 million jobs and we are expected to lose another 3 to 5 million in the next year.

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