The magnetic fields used in accelerators play a critical role in steering and focusing beams of charged particles. Traditionally, accelerators have used electromagnets to generate these fields, which use copper cables carrying high currents and therefore consume a large amount of energy. Permanent magnets consume no electricity; however, their field is fixed and can’t be adjusted. Our Zero-Power Tuneable Optics (ZEPTO) technology brings the best of both worlds: a permanent magnet device with a large adjustment range, high field quality, and no energy consumption during normal operation.
The ZEPTO concept was developed by STFC in 2010, in collaboration with CERN, to investigate low-power alternatives for the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC), a proposed successor to the LHC. STFC built and tested two quadrupole prototypes (focusing magnets) and one dipole (bending magnet). In 2021, we built a third quadrupole device, which was installed on the UK’s Diamond Light Source as a replacement for an existing electromagnet quadrupole.
