Industry exhibition at the EuPRAXIA Symposium.

Oliver Burns, a student at Liverpool Life Sciences UTC, was one of over 150 local secondary school and sixth form students who attended the Symposium. Considering a career in accelerator science, Oliver commented: “This science is at the forefront of innovation, and it would be incredible to be a part of advancing the world we live in.”

The morning session of the Symposium featured talks from research leaders about the science and technology of plasma accelerators. Hands-on demonstrators such as building marshmallow waves, salad bowl accelerators and playing with the ‘Surfatron’ computer game helped to explain how this new type of accelerators works and how high energy particle beams can be optimised. A poster session showcased the results from EuPRAXIA research to date.

Physics teacher Simon Collins and 38 A-level students from St Francis Xavier’s College attended the day. Simon commented: “The day not only helped students learn about how accelerator science links to other areas of their physics studies, but helped their understanding of what makes up matter and the origins of the universe itself. Hopefully it inspired them, and encouraged them to continue into a scientific career.”

The EuPRAXIA collaboration gathered in Liverpool to discuss the future of plasma accelerators.

The last day of the meeting took the form of a public event at the Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre. The Symposium ‘Quantum Leap Towards the Next Generation of Particle Accelerators’ was a special occasion to showcase the progress made within the EuPRAXIA Design Study alongside the future of plasma accelerators, advanced laser technology, and industry opportunities.

Professor Welsch, EuPRAXIA’s Director of Communication and Head of the Liverpool Physics Department, said: “The collaboration week allowed a critical assessment of the research progress made across all of EuPRAXIA’s scientific work packages. It was great to see that we are well on track for the publication of our conceptual design report next year. On the other hand, the Symposium was ideal to present the aims and opportunities of EuPRAXIA to a much wider audience.”

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In the later part of the day the event focused more on the importance of industry-academia collaboration for large scale research infrastructures such as EuPRAXIA. It included an industry exhibition highlighting the latest technologies and market-ready products, as well as talks about the wide range of applications in which accelerators find use. There were also presentations about the complex challenges related to system integration and a vision of where laser technology may stand in 2015. 

EuPRAXIA Collaboration Week and Symposium held in Liverpool

‘Marshmallow waves’ helped to explain how this new type of plasma wakefield accelerator works.

Dr Ralph Assmann, EuPRAXIA Coordinator and Lead Scientist at DESY, said: “EuPRAXIA represents the next generation of accelerators that will enable fantastic new applications. To pave the way for such a novel facility, we need to work together across research disciplines, countries and sectors.” Quoting John Lennon, he added: “A dream you dream alone, is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”

Let’s turn EuPRAXIA into reality.



All the talks from the Symposium are available online and can be watched here:
http://www.eupraxia-project.eu/live-streams.html

 

Dr Georg Korn (ELI-Beamlines) presenting a talk on system integration in large scale research infrastructures.

The members of the EuPRAXIA collaboration gathered in Liverpool on 4 – 6 July 2018 to discuss the content of the forthcoming Conceptual Design Report, potential sites for the EuPRAXIA facility, a survey of user’s requirements, and the ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) roadmap application.