Synchrophasotron is used. Synchrophasotron: what is it, principle of operation and description
The whole world knows that in 1957 the USSR launched the world's first artificial Earth satellite. However, few people know that in the same year the Soviet Union began testing the synchrophasotron, which is the progenitor of the modern Large Hadron Collider in Geneva. The article will discuss what a synchrophasotron is and how it works.
Answering the question of what a synchrophasotron is, it should be said that this is a high-tech and science-intensive device that was intended for the study of the microcosm. In particular, the idea of the synchrophasotron was as follows: with the help of powerful magnetic fields created by electromagnets, it was necessary to accelerate a beam of elementary particles (protons) to high speeds, and then direct this beam to a target at rest. From such a collision, the protons will have to "break" into pieces. Not far from the target is a special detector - a bubble chamber. This detector makes it possible to follow the tracks left by the proton parts to investigate their nature and properties.
Why was it necessary to build the synchrophasotron of the USSR? In this scientific experiment, which was classified as "top secret", Soviet scientists were trying to find a new source of cheaper and more efficient energy than enriched uranium. The purely scientific goals of a deeper study of the nature of nuclear interactions and the world of subatomic particles were also pursued.
The principle of operation of the synchrophasotron
The above description of the tasks that the synchrophasotron faced may seem to many not too difficult for their implementation in practice, but this is not so. Despite the simplicity of the question, what is a synchrophasotron, in order to accelerate protons to the required huge speeds, electrical voltages of hundreds of billions of volts are needed. Such tensions cannot be created even at the present time. Therefore, it was decided to distribute the energy pumped into protons in time.
The principle of operation of the synchrophasotron was as follows: a proton beam begins its movement along an annular tunnel, in some place of this tunnel there are capacitors that create a power surge at the moment when the proton beam flies through them. Thus, on each turn there is a small acceleration of protons. After the particle beam has made several million revolutions through the tunnel of the synchrophasotron, the protons will reach the desired speeds and will be directed to the target.
It should be noted that the electromagnets used during the acceleration of protons played a guiding role, that is, they determined the beam trajectory, but did not participate in its acceleration.
Problems faced by scientists when conducting experiments
In order to better understand what a synchrophasotron is and why its creation is a very complex and science-intensive process, one should consider the problems that arise during its operation.
Firstly, the greater the speed of the proton beam, the greater the mass they begin to have according to the famous Einstein's law. At speeds close to light, the mass of particles becomes so large that to keep them on the desired trajectory, it is necessary to have powerful electromagnets. The larger the size of the synchrophasotron, the larger magnets can be placed.
Secondly, the creation of the synchrophasotron was also complicated by the energy losses of the proton beam during their circular acceleration, and the greater the beam velocity, the more significant these losses become. It turns out that in order to accelerate the beam to the required gigantic speeds, it is necessary to have huge powers.
What results have been obtained?
Undoubtedly, the experiments at the Soviet synchrophasotron made a huge contribution to the development of modern fields of technology. So, thanks to these experiments, Soviet scientists were able to improve the process of processing used uranium-238 and obtained some interesting data by colliding accelerated ions of different atoms with a target.
The results of experiments at the synchrophasotron are used to this day in the construction of nuclear power plants, space rockets and robotics. The achievements of Soviet scientific thought were used in the construction of the most powerful synchrophasotron of our time, which is the Large Hadron Collider. The Soviet accelerator itself serves the science of the Russian Federation, being at the FIAN Institute (Moscow), where it is used as an ion accelerator.
What is a synchrophasotron: the principle of operation and the results obtained - all about traveling to the site
+ phase + electron) is a resonant cyclic accelerator with the length of the equilibrium orbit unchanged during acceleration. In order for the particles to remain in the same orbit during acceleration, both the leading magnetic field and the frequency of the accelerating electric field change. The latter is necessary for the beam to arrive at the accelerating section always in phase with the high-frequency electric field. In the event that the particles are ultrarelativistic, the frequency of revolution, with a fixed length of the orbit, does not change with increasing energy, and the frequency of the RF generator must also remain constant. Such an accelerator is already called a synchrotron.
In culture
It was this device that the first-grader “worked at work” in the famous song of Alla Pugacheva “The song of the first-grader”. Synchrophasotron is also mentioned in Gaidai's comedy "Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures". This device is also shown as an example of the application of Einstein's Theory of Relativity in the educational short film "What is the theory of relativity?". In low-intellect humorous shows, for the general public, it often acts as an "incomprehensible" scientific device or an example of high technology.
It took UK parliamentarians just 15 minutes to decide on a £1bn public investment in the construction of the synchrophasotron. After that - for one hour they vigorously discussed the cost of coffee, neither more nor less, in the parliamentary buffet. And yet we decided: reduced the price by 15%.
It would seem that the tasks are not comparable in complexity at all, and according to the logic of things, everything should have happened exactly the opposite. An hour for science, 15 minutes for coffee. But no! As it turned out later, most of the venerable politicians promptly gave their innermost "for", having absolutely no idea what a "synchrophasotron" is.
Let's, dear reader, together with you fill in this gap of knowledge and let's not become like the scientific short-sightedness of some comrades.
What is a synchrophasotron?
Synchrophasotron - an electronic installation for scientific research - a cyclic accelerator of elementary particles (neutrons, protons, electrons, etc.). It has the shape of a huge ring, weighing more than 36 thousand tons. Its super-powerful magnets and accelerating tubes imbue microscopic particles with colossal directional energy. In the depths of the Phasotron resonator, at a depth of 14.5 meters, truly fantastic transformations take place at the physical level: for example, a tiny proton receives 20 million electron volts, and a heavy ion - 5 million eV. And this is only a modest fraction of all the possibilities!
Namely, thanks to the unique properties of the cyclic accelerator, scientists managed to learn the most secret secrets of the universe: to study the structure of negligibly small particles and the physicochemical processes occurring inside their shells; observe the fusion reaction with your own eyes; discover the nature of hitherto unknown microscopic objects.
Phasotron marked a new era of scientific research - a territory of research where the microscope was powerless, about which even science fiction innovators spoke with great caution (their far-sighted creative flight could not predict the discoveries made!).
History of the synchrophasotron
Initially, accelerators were linear, that is, they did not have a cyclic structure. But soon the physicists had to abandon them. The requirements for energy values increased - more was needed. But the linear construction could not cope: theoretical calculations showed that for these values, it must be of incredible length.
- In 1929 American E. Lawrence makes attempts to solve this problem and invents the cyclotron, the prototype of the modern phasotron. The tests are going well. Ten years later, in 1939. Lawrence is awarded the Nobel Prize.
- In 1938 in the USSR, the talented physicist V.I. Veksler began to actively deal with the issue of creating and improving accelerators. In February 1944 a revolutionary idea comes to him how to overcome the energy barrier. Veksler calls his method "autophasing". Exactly one year later, E. Macmillan, a scientist from the USA, completely independently discovers the same technology.
- In 1949 in the Soviet Union under the leadership of V.I. Veksler and S.I. Vavilov, a large-scale scientific project is unfolding - the creation of a synchrophasotron with a capacity of 10 billion electron volts. For 8 years, on the basis of the Institute for Nuclear Research in the city of Dubno in Ukraine, a group of theoretical physicists, designers and engineers has been painstakingly working on the installation. Therefore, it is also called the Dubninsk synchrophasotron.
The synchrophasotron was put into operation in March 1957, six months before the flight into space of the first artificial Earth satellite.
What research is carried out at the synchrophasotron?
Wexler's resonant cyclic accelerator gave birth to a galaxy of outstanding discoveries in many aspects of fundamental physics and, in particular, in some controversial and little-studied problems of Einstein's theory of relativity:
- the behavior of the quark structure of nuclei in the process of interaction;
- the formation of cumulative particles as a result of reactions involving nuclei;
- study of the properties of accelerated deuterons;
- interaction of heavy ions with targets (checking the resistance of microcircuits);
- disposal of Uranium-238.
The results obtained in these areas are successfully applied in the construction of spacecraft, the design of nuclear power plants, the development of robotics and equipment for working in extreme conditions. But the most amazing thing is that a series of studies carried out at the synchrophasotron is bringing scientists closer and closer to unraveling the great mystery of the origin of the Universe.
Here is the subtly familiar word "synchrophasotron"! Remind me how it got into the ears of a simple layman in the Soviet Union? There was some kind of movie or a popular song, something, I remember exactly! Or was it just an analogue of an unpronounceable word?
And now let's still remember what it is and how it was created ...
In 1957, the Soviet Union made a revolutionary scientific breakthrough in two directions at once: in October, the first artificial Earth satellite was launched, and a few months earlier, in March, the legendary synchrophasotron, a giant installation for studying the microworld, began operating in Dubna. These two events shocked the whole world, and the words "satellite" and "synchrophasotron" have firmly entered our lives.
Synchrophasotron is one of the types of charged particle accelerators. Particles in them are accelerated to high speeds and, consequently, to high energies. By the result of their collisions with other atomic particles, the structure and properties of matter are judged. The probability of collisions is determined by the intensity of the accelerated particle beam, that is, by the number of particles in it, so the intensity, along with the energy, is an important parameter of the accelerator.
Accelerators reach enormous sizes, and it is no coincidence that the writer Vladimir Kartsev called them pyramids of the nuclear age, by which descendants will judge the level of our technology.
Before the construction of accelerators, cosmic rays were the only source of high-energy particles. Basically, these are protons with an energy of the order of several GeV, freely coming from space, and secondary particles that arise when they interact with the atmosphere. But the flow of cosmic rays is chaotic and has a low intensity, therefore, over time, special facilities began to be created for laboratory research - accelerators with controlled particle beams of high energy and greater intensity.
The operation of all accelerators is based on a well-known fact: a charged particle is accelerated by an electric field. However, it is impossible to obtain particles of very high energy by accelerating them only once between two electrodes, since this would require applying a huge voltage to them, which is technically impossible. Therefore, high-energy particles are obtained by repeatedly passing them between the electrodes.
Accelerators in which a particle passes through consecutive accelerating gaps are called linear. The development of accelerators began with them, but the requirement to increase the energy of particles led to almost unrealistically large lengths of installations.
In 1929, the American scientist E. Lawrence proposed the design of an accelerator in which the particle moves in a spiral, repeatedly passing through the same gap between two electrodes. The particle trajectory is bent and twisted by a uniform magnetic field directed perpendicular to the plane of the orbit. The accelerator was called a cyclotron. In 1930-1931, Lawrence and his collaborators built the first cyclotron at the University of California (USA). For this invention, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1939.
In a cyclotron, a large electromagnet creates a uniform magnetic field, and an electric field arises between two hollow D-shaped electrodes (hence their name - "dees"). An alternating voltage is applied to the electrodes, which reverses polarity every time the particle makes a half turn. Due to this, the electric field always accelerates the particles. This idea could not be realized if particles with different energies had different periods of revolution. But, fortunately, although the speed increases with increasing energy, the period of revolution remains constant, since the diameter of the trajectory increases in the same ratio. It is this property of the cyclotron that makes it possible to use a constant frequency of the electric field for acceleration.
Soon cyclotrons began to be created in other research laboratories.
Synchrophasotron building in the 1950s
The need to create a serious accelerator base in the Soviet Union was announced at the government level in March 1938. A group of researchers from the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology (LFTI), headed by Academician A.F. Ioffe turned to the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR V.M. Molotov with a letter proposing the creation of a technical base for research in the field of the structure of the atomic nucleus. Questions of the structure of the atomic nucleus became one of the central problems of natural science, and the Soviet Union lagged far behind in their solution. So, if in America there were at least five cyclotrons, then in the Soviet Union there was not a single one (the only cyclotron of the Radium Institute of the Academy of Sciences (RIAN), launched in 1937, practically did not work due to design defects). The appeal to Molotov contained a request to create conditions for the completion by January 1, 1939 of the construction of the LPTI cyclotron. Work on its creation, which began in 1937, was suspended due to departmental inconsistencies and the termination of funding.
Indeed, at the time of writing the letter, there was a clear misunderstanding in the government circles of the country about the relevance of research in the field of atomic physics. According to the memoirs of M.G. Meshcheryakov, in 1938 the question even arose of liquidating the Radium Institute, which, according to some, was engaged in useless research on uranium and thorium, while the country was striving to increase coal mining and steel smelting.
The letter to Molotov had an effect, and already in June 1938, a commission from the USSR Academy of Sciences, headed by P.L. Kapitsa, at the request of the government, gave a conclusion on the need to build a 10–20 MeV LPTI cyclotron, depending on the type of accelerated particles, and to improve the RIAN cyclotron.
In November 1938 S.I. Vavilov, in his appeal to the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences, proposed to build the LFTI cyclotron in Moscow and to transfer the laboratory of I.V. Kurchatov, who was involved in its creation. Sergei Ivanovich wanted the central laboratory for the study of the atomic nucleus to be located in the same place where the Academy of Sciences was located, that is, in Moscow. However, he was not supported by the LFTI. The disputes ended at the end of 1939, when A.F. Ioffe proposed to create three cyclotrons at once. On July 30, 1940, at a meeting of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, it was decided to instruct RIAN this year to equip the existing cyclotron, FIAN to prepare the necessary materials for the construction of a new powerful cyclotron by October 15, and LFTI to complete the construction of the cyclotron in the first quarter of 1941.
In connection with this decision, the so-called cyclotron brigade was created at FIAN, which included Vladimir Iosifovich Veksler, Sergei Nikolaevich Vernov, Pavel Alekseevich Cherenkov, Leonid Vasilyevich Groshev, and Evgeny Lvovich Feinberg. On September 26, 1940, the bureau of the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (OPMS) heard information from V.I. Veksler about the design task for the cyclotron, approved its main characteristics and construction estimate. The cyclotron was designed to accelerate deuterons up to an energy of 50 MeV. FIAN planned to start its construction in 1941 and put it into operation in 1943. Planned plans were disrupted by the war.
The urgent need to create an atomic bomb forced the Soviet Union to mobilize efforts in the study of the microworld. Two cyclotrons were built one after the other at Laboratory No. 2 in Moscow (1944, 1946); in Leningrad, after the blockade was lifted, the cyclotrons of the RIAN and LFTI were restored (1946).
Although the Fianovsky cyclotron project was approved before the war, it became clear that Lawrence's design had exhausted itself, since the energy of accelerated protons could not exceed 20 MeV. It is from this energy that the effect of an increase in the mass of a particle at speeds commensurate with the speed of light begins to affect, which follows from Einstein's theory of relativity.
Due to the growth of the mass, the resonance between the passage of the particle through the accelerating gap and the corresponding phase of the electric field is violated, which entails deceleration.
It should be noted that the cyclotron is designed to accelerate only heavy particles (protons, ions). This is due to the fact that, due to the too small rest mass, the electron already at energies of 1–3 MeV reaches a speed close to the speed of light, as a result of which its mass noticeably increases and the particle quickly goes out of resonance.
The first cyclic electron accelerator was the betatron built by Kerst in 1940 based on Wideröe's idea. The betatron is based on Faraday's law, according to which, when the magnetic flux penetrating a closed circuit changes, an electromotive force arises in this circuit. In a betatron, a closed circuit is a stream of particles moving along an annular orbit in a vacuum chamber of constant radius in a gradually increasing magnetic field. When the magnetic flux inside the orbit increases, an electromotive force arises, the tangential component of which accelerates the electrons. In the betatron, like the cyclotron, there is a limit to the production of very high energy particles. This is due to the fact that, according to the laws of electrodynamics, electrons moving in circular orbits emit electromagnetic waves, which carry away a lot of energy at relativistic speeds. To compensate for these losses, it is necessary to significantly increase the size of the magnet core, which has a practical limit.
Thus, by the beginning of the 1940s, the possibilities of obtaining higher energies for both protons and electrons were exhausted. For further studies of the microcosm, it was necessary to increase the energy of accelerated particles, so the task of finding new methods of acceleration became acute.
In February 1944 V.I. Veksler put forward a revolutionary idea of how to overcome the energy barrier of the cyclotron and betatron. It was so simple that it seemed strange that it had not been approached earlier. The idea was that during resonant acceleration, the frequencies of revolution of particles and the accelerating field must constantly coincide, in other words, be synchronous. When accelerating heavy relativistic particles in a cyclotron for synchronization, it was proposed to change the frequency of the accelerating electric field according to a certain law (later such an accelerator was called a synchrocyclotron).
To accelerate relativistic electrons, an accelerator was proposed, later called the synchrotron. In it, acceleration is carried out by an alternating electric field of constant frequency, and synchronism is provided by a magnetic field that changes according to a certain law, which keeps particles in an orbit of constant radius.
For practical purposes, it was necessary to theoretically make sure that the proposed acceleration processes are stable, that is, with minor deviations from resonance, the phasing of the particles will be carried out automatically. The theoretical physicist of the cyclotron team E.L. Feinberg drew Veksler's attention to this and himself proved the stability of the processes in a strict mathematical way. That is why Wexler's idea was called the "principle of autophasing".
To discuss the obtained solution, FIAN held a seminar at which Veksler made an introductory report, and Feinberg a report on stability. The work was approved, and in the same 1944, the journal “Reports of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR” published two articles in which new methods of acceleration were considered (the first article dealt with an accelerator based on multiple frequencies, later called a microtron). Only Veksler was listed as their author, and Feinberg's name was not mentioned at all. Very soon, Feinberg's role in the discovery of the principle of autophasing was undeservedly consigned to complete oblivion.
A year later, the autophasing principle was independently discovered by the American physicist E. MacMillan, but Wexler retained priority.
It should be noted that in accelerators based on the new principle, the "rule of leverage" manifested itself in an explicit form - the gain in energy led to a loss in the intensity of the beam of accelerated particles, which is associated with the cyclicity of their acceleration, in contrast to the smooth acceleration in cyclotrons and betatrons. This unpleasant moment was immediately pointed out at the session of the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences on February 20, 1945, but then everyone unanimously came to the conclusion that this circumstance should in no case interfere with the implementation of the project. Although, by the way, the struggle for intensity subsequently constantly annoyed the “accelerators”.
At the same session, at the suggestion of the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences S.I. Vavilov, it was decided to immediately build the two types of accelerators proposed by Veksler. On February 19, 1946, the Special Committee under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR instructed the relevant commission to develop their projects, indicating the capacity, production time and construction site. (The FIAN refused to create a cyclotron.)
As a result, on August 13, 1946, two decrees of the Council of Ministers of the USSR were issued simultaneously, signed by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR I.V. Stalin and the manager of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Ya.E. Chadaev, on the creation of a synchrocyclotron for a deuteron energy of 250 MeV and a synchrotron for an energy of 1 GeV. The energy of the accelerators was dictated primarily by the political confrontation between the USA and the USSR. The United States has already built a synchrocyclotron with a deuteron energy of about 190 MeV and has begun building a synchrotron with an energy of 250–300 MeV. Domestic accelerators were supposed to surpass the American ones in terms of energy.
Hopes were pinned on the synchrocyclotron for the discovery of new elements, new methods for obtaining atomic energy from sources cheaper than uranium. With the help of the synchrotron, they intended to artificially obtain mesons, which, as Soviet physicists assumed at that time, were capable of causing nuclear fission.
Both decrees came out with the stamp "Top Secret (special folder)", since the construction of accelerators was part of the project to create an atomic bomb. With their help, it was hoped to obtain an accurate theory of nuclear forces, necessary for bomb calculations, which at that time were carried out only with the help of a large set of approximate models. True, everything turned out to be not as simple as it was thought at first, and it should be noted that such a theory has not been created to this day.
The resolutions determined the construction sites for accelerators: the synchrotron - in Moscow, on the Kaluga Highway (now Leninsky Prospekt), on the territory of FIAN; synchrocyclotron - in the area of the Ivankovskaya hydroelectric power station, 125 kilometers north of Moscow (at that time the Kalinin region). Initially, the creation of both accelerators was entrusted to FIAN. V.I. Veksler, and for the synchrocyclotron - D.V. Skobeltsyn.
On the left - Doctor of Technical Sciences Professor L.P. Zinoviev (1912–1998), on the right - Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences V.I. Veksler (1907–1966) during the creation of the synchrophasotron
Six months later, the head of the atomic project, I.V. Kurchatov, dissatisfied with the progress of work on the Fianovo synchrocyclotron, transferred this topic to his Laboratory No. 2. He appointed M.G. Meshcheryakov, freeing him from work at the Leningrad Radium Institute. Under the leadership of Meshcheryakov, a synchrocyclotron model was created in Laboratory No. 2, which has already experimentally confirmed the correctness of the autophasing principle. In 1947, the construction of an accelerator began in the Kalinin region.
December 14, 1949 under the leadership of M.G. Meshcheryakov Synchrocyclotron was successfully launched on schedule and became the first accelerator of this type in the Soviet Union, blocking the energy of a similar accelerator created in 1946 in Berkeley (USA). It remained a record until 1953.
Initially, the laboratory based on the synchrocyclotron was called the Hydrotechnical Laboratory of the USSR Academy of Sciences (GTL) for the sake of secrecy and was a branch of Laboratory No. 2. In 1953 it was transformed into an independent Institute of Nuclear Problems of the USSR Academy of Sciences (INP), headed by M.G. Meshcheryakov.
Academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences A.I. Leipunsky (1907–1972), based on the principle of autophasing, proposed the design of an accelerator, later called a synchrophasotron (photo: Science and Life)
The creation of the synchrotron for a number of reasons failed. First, due to unforeseen difficulties, two synchrotrons had to be built for lower energies - 30 and 250 MeV. They were located on the territory of FIAN, and the 1 GeV synchrotron was decided to be built outside of Moscow. In June 1948, he was given a place a few kilometers from the synchrocyclotron already under construction in the Kalinin region, but it was never built there either, since preference was given to the accelerator proposed by Alexander Ilyich Leipunsky, Academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. It happened in the following way.
In 1946 A.I. Leipunsky, based on the principle of autophasing, put forward the idea of the possibility of creating an accelerator in which the features of a synchrotron and a synchrocyclotron were combined. Subsequently, Veksler called this type of accelerator a synchrophasotron. The name becomes clear if we take into account that the synchrocyclotron was originally called the phasotron, and in conjunction with the synchrotron, a synchrophasotron is obtained. In it, as a result of a change in the control magnetic field, particles move along the ring, as in a synchrotron, and acceleration produces a high-frequency electric field, the frequency of which varies with time, as in a synchrocyclotron. This made it possible to significantly increase the energy of accelerated protons in comparison with the synchrocyclotron. In the synchrophasotron, protons are preliminarily accelerated in a linear accelerator - an injector. The particles introduced into the main chamber under the action of a magnetic field begin to circulate in it. This mode is called betatron mode. Then the high-frequency accelerating voltage is switched on at the electrodes placed in two diametrically opposite rectilinear gaps.
Of all three types of accelerators based on the principle of autophasing, the synchrophasotron is technically the most complex, and then many doubted the possibility of its creation. But Leipunsky, confident that everything would work out, boldly set about implementing his idea.
In 1947, in Laboratory "B" near the Obninskoye station (now the city of Obninsk), a special accelerator group under his leadership began developing an accelerator. The first theoreticians of the synchrophasotron were Yu.A. Krutkov, O.D. Kazachkovsky and L.L. Sabsovich. In February 1948, a closed conference on accelerators was held, which, in addition to ministers, was attended by A.L. Mints, a well-known specialist in radio engineering at that time, and chief engineers of the Leningrad Electrosila and transformer plants. All of them stated that the accelerator proposed by Leipun could be done. Encouraging first theoretical results and the support of engineers from leading plants made it possible to start work on a specific technical project for a large accelerator for proton energies of 1.3–1.5 GeV and to develop experimental work that confirmed the correctness of Leipunsky's idea. By December 1948, the technical design of the accelerator was ready, and by March 1949, Leipunsky was to submit a draft design of the 10 GeV synchrophasotron.
And suddenly, in 1949, at the very height of the work, the government decided to transfer the work on the synchrophasotron that had begun to FIAN. What for? Why? After all, FIAN is already building a 1 GeV synchrotron! Yes, the fact of the matter is that both projects, both the 1.5 GeV synchrotron and the 1 GeV synchrotron, were too expensive, and the question arose about their expediency. It was finally resolved at one of the special meetings at FIAN, where the country's leading physicists gathered. They considered it unnecessary to build a 1 GeV synchrotron due to the lack of much interest in electron acceleration. The main opponent of this position was M.A. Markov. His main argument was that it is much more efficient to study both protons and nuclear forces with the help of the already well-studied electromagnetic interaction. However, he failed to defend his point of view, and a positive decision turned out to be in favor of Leipunsky's project.
This is what the 10 GeV synchrophasotron looks like in Dubna
Veksler's cherished dream of building the largest accelerator was crumbling. Not wanting to put up with the current situation, he, with the support of S.I. Vavilov and D.V. Skobeltsyna suggested abandoning the construction of a 1.5 GeV synchrophasotron and proceeding to the design of a 10 GeV accelerator immediately, previously entrusted to A.I. Leipunsky. The government accepted this proposal, because in April 1948 it became known about the 6–7 GeV synchrophasotron project at the University of California and they wanted to be ahead of the United States at least for a while.
On May 2, 1949, the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a resolution on the creation of a synchrophasotron for an energy of 7–10 GeV on the territory previously allocated for the synchrotron. The theme was transferred to FIAN, and V.I. Veksler, although Leipunsky's business was going quite well.
This can be explained, firstly, by the fact that Veksler was considered the author of the autophasing principle and, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, L.P. favored him very much. Beria. Secondly, S. I. Vavilov was at that time not only the director of the FIAN, but also the president of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Leipunsky was offered to become Veksler's deputy, but he refused and later did not participate in the creation of the synchrophasotron. According to Deputy Leipunsky O.D. Kazachkovsky, "it was clear that two bears could not get along in one lair." Subsequently, A.I. Leipunsky and O.D. Kazachkovsky became leading specialists in reactors and in 1960 were awarded the Lenin Prize.
The resolution contained a clause on the transfer to work at FIAN of the employees of Laboratory "V", who were engaged in the development of the accelerator, with the transfer of the corresponding equipment. And there was something to convey: work on the accelerator in the Laboratory "B" by that time had been brought to the stage of a model and substantiation of the main decisions.
Not everyone was enthusiastic about the transfer to FIAN, since it was easy and interesting to work with Leipunsky: he was not only an excellent scientific adviser, but also a wonderful person. However, it was almost impossible to refuse a transfer: at that harsh time, refusal threatened with trial and camps.
The group transferred from Laboratory "B" included engineer Leonid Petrovich Zinoviev. He, like other members of the accelerator group, in Leipunsky's laboratory was first engaged in the development of individual components necessary for the model of the future accelerator, in particular, the ion source and high-voltage pulse circuits for powering the injector. Leipunsky immediately drew attention to a competent and creative engineer. On his instructions, Zinoviev was the first to be involved in the creation of a pilot plant in which it was possible to simulate the entire process of proton acceleration. Then no one could have imagined that, having become one of the pioneers in the work to bring the idea of the synchrophasotron to life, Zinoviev would be the only person who would go through all the stages of its creation and improvement. And not just pass, but lead them.
Theoretical and experimental results obtained at Laboratory "V" were used at the Lebedev Physical Institute in the design of the 10 GeV synchrophasotron. However, increasing the accelerator energy to this value required significant improvements. The difficulties of its creation were aggravated to a very large extent by the fact that at that time there was no experience in building such large installations all over the world.
Under the guidance of theorists M.S. Rabinovich and A.A. Kolomensky at FIAN made a physical justification of the technical project. The main components of the synchrophasotron were developed by the Moscow Radio Engineering Institute of the Academy of Sciences and the Leningrad Research Institute under the guidance of their directors A.L. Mints and E.G. Mosquito.
To obtain the necessary experience, we decided to build a model of a synchrophasotron for an energy of 180 MeV. It was located on the territory of FIAN in a special building, which, for reasons of secrecy, was called warehouse No. 2. At the beginning of 1951, Veksler entrusted Zinoviev with all work on the model, including equipment installation, adjustment and its integrated launch.
The Fianovsky model was by no means a baby - its magnet with a diameter of 4 meters weighed 290 tons. Subsequently, Zinoviev recalled that when they assembled the model in accordance with the first calculations and tried to start it up, at first nothing worked. Many unforeseen technical difficulties had to be overcome before the model was launched. When this happened in 1953, Veksler said: “Well, that's it! Ivankovsky synchrophasotron will work!” It was about a large 10 GeV synchrophasotron, which had already begun to be built in 1951 in the Kalinin region. The construction was carried out by an organization codenamed TDS-533 (Technical Directorate of Construction 533).
Shortly before the launch of the model, an American magazine unexpectedly published a report on a new design of the accelerator's magnetic system, called hard-focusing. It is performed as a set of alternating sections with oppositely directed magnetic field gradients. This significantly reduces the amplitude of oscillations of the accelerated particles, which in turn makes it possible to significantly reduce the cross section of the vacuum chamber. As a result, a large amount of iron is saved, which goes to the construction of the magnet. For example, the 30 GeV accelerator in Geneva, based on hard focusing, has three times the energy and three times the circumference of the Dubna synchrophasotron, and its magnet is ten times lighter.
The design of hard focusing magnets was proposed and developed by American scientists Courant, Livingston and Snyder in 1952. A few years before them, the same thing was invented, but not published by Christophilos.
Zinoviev immediately appreciated the discovery of the Americans and proposed to redesign the Dubna synchrophasotron. But for this, time would have to be sacrificed. Veksler said then: "No, even for one day, but we must be ahead of the Americans." Probably, in the conditions of the Cold War, he was right - "horses are not changed in midstream." And the large accelerator continued to be built according to the previously developed project. In 1953, on the basis of the synchrophasotron under construction, the Electrophysical Laboratory of the USSR Academy of Sciences (EFLAN) was created. V.I. was appointed its director. Veksler.
In 1956, INP and EFLAN formed the basis of the established Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR). Its location became known as the city of Dubna. By that time, the proton energy at the synchrocyclotron was 680 MeV, and the construction of the synchrophasotron was being completed. From the first days of JINR's formation, the stylized drawing of the synchrophasotron building (author V.P. Bochkarev) became its official symbol.
The model helped in solving a number of issues for the 10 GeV accelerator, however, the design of many nodes has undergone significant changes due to the large difference in size. The average diameter of the synchrophasotron electromagnet was 60 meters, and the weight was 36 thousand tons (according to its parameters, it still remains in the Guinness Book of Records). A whole range of new complex engineering problems arose, which the team successfully solved.
Finally, everything was ready for the integrated launch of the accelerator. By order of Veksler, it was led by L.P. Zinoviev. Work began at the end of December 1956, the situation was tense, and Vladimir Iosifovich spared neither himself nor his employees. We often stayed overnight on cots right in the huge control room of the installation. According to the memoirs of A.A. Kolomensky, Veksler spent most of his inexhaustible energy at that time on "extorting" help from external organizations and on putting into practice practical proposals, largely coming from Zinoviev. Veksler highly valued his experimental intuition, which played a decisive role in the start-up of the giant accelerator.
For a very long time they could not get the betatron mode, without which the launch is impossible. And it was Zinoviev who, at the crucial moment, realized what needed to be done in order to breathe life into the synchrophasotron. The experiment, which was prepared for two weeks, to everyone's joy, finally crowned with success. On March 15, 1957, the Dubna synchrophasotron started working, which was reported to the whole world by the Pravda newspaper on April 11, 1957 (article by V.I. Veksler). Interestingly, this news appeared only when the energy of the accelerator, gradually raised from the day of launch, exceeded the energy of 6.3 GeV at that time the leading American synchrophasotron at Berkeley. "There are 8.3 billion electronvolts!" - the newspaper reported, announcing that a record accelerator had been created in the Soviet Union. Veksler's cherished dream has come true!
On April 16, the proton energy reached the design value of 10 GeV, but the accelerator was put into operation only a few months later, since there were still enough unsolved technical problems. And yet the main thing was behind - the synchrophasotron started working.
Veksler reported this at the second session of the Academic Council of the Joint Institute in May 1957. At the same time, the director of the institute D.I. Blokhintsev noted that, firstly, the synchrophasotron model was created in a year and a half, while in America it took about two years. Secondly, the synchrophasotron itself was launched in three months, meeting the schedule, although at first it seemed unrealistic. It was the launch of the synchrophasotron that brought Dubna its first worldwide fame.
At the third session of the Academic Council of the Institute, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences V.P. Dzhelepov noted that "Zinoviev was in all respects the soul of the launch and brought an enormous amount of energy and effort into this business, namely creative efforts in the course of setting up the machine." A D.I. Blokhintsev added that "Zinoviev actually endured the enormous work of complex adjustment."
Thousands of people were involved in the creation of the synchrophasotron, but Leonid Petrovich Zinoviev played a special role in this. Veksler wrote: “The success of the launch of the synchrophasotron and the possibility of starting a wide front of physical work on it are largely associated with the participation of L.P. Zinoviev.
Zinoviev planned to return to FIAN after the launch of the accelerator. However, Veksler begged him to stay, believing that he could not entrust anyone else with the management of the synchrophasotron. Zinoviev agreed and supervised the work of the accelerator for more than thirty years. Under his leadership and with direct participation, the accelerator was constantly improved. Zinoviev loved the synchrophasotron and very subtly felt the breath of this iron giant. According to him, there was not a single, even the slightest detail of the accelerator, which he would not touch and whose purpose he would not know.
In October 1957, at an extended meeting of the Academic Council of the Kurchatov Institute, chaired by Igor Vasilyevich himself, seventeen people from different organizations who participated in the creation of the synchrophasotron were nominated for the most prestigious Lenin Prize at that time in the Soviet Union. But according to the conditions, the number of laureates could not exceed twelve people. In April 1959, the director of the JINR High Energy Laboratory V.I. Veksler, head of the department of the same laboratory L.P. Zinoviev, Deputy Head of the Main Directorate for the Use of Atomic Energy under the Council of Ministers of the USSR D.V. Efremov, Director of the Leningrad Research Institute E.G. Komar and his collaborators N.A. Monoszon, A.M. Stolov, director of the Moscow Radio Engineering Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences A.L. Mints, employees of the same institute F.A. Vodopyanov, S.M. Rubchinsky, FIAN staff A.A. Kolomensky, V.A. Petukhov, M.S. Rabinovich. Veksler and Zinoviev became honorary citizens of Dubna.
The synchrophasotron remained in service for forty-five years. During this time, a number of discoveries were made on it. In 1960, the synchrophasotron model was converted into an electron accelerator, which is still operating at the FIAN.
sources
Literature:
Kolomensky A. A., Lebedev A. N. Theory of cyclic accelerators. - M., 1962.
Komar EG Charged particle accelerators. - M., 1964.
Livinggood J. Principles of operation of cyclic accelerators - M., 1963.
Oganesyan Yu. How the cyclotron was created / Science and Life, 1980 No. 4, p. 73.
Hill R. In the wake of particles - M., 1963.
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And I’ll remind you about some other settings: for example, and what it looks like. Remember what it is. Or maybe you don't know? or what is The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -What is a synchrophasotron?
First, let's delve a little into history. The need for this device first arose in 1938. A group of physicists from the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology addressed Molotov with a statement that the USSR needed a research base for studying the structure of the atomic nucleus. They argued this request by the fact that such a field of study plays a very important role, and at the moment the Soviet Union is somewhat behind its Western counterparts. Indeed, in America at that time there were already 5 synchrophasotrons, in the USSR there was not a single one. It was proposed to complete the construction of the already started cyclotron, the development of which was suspended due to poor funding and lack of competent personnel.
In the end, a decision was made to build a synchrophasotron, and Veksler was at the head of this project. Construction was completed in 1957. So what is a synchrophasotron? Simply put, it is a particle accelerator. It betrays particles of huge kinetic energy. It is based on a variable leading magnetic field and a variable frequency of the main field. This combination makes it possible to keep the particles in a constant orbit. This device is used to study the most diverse properties of particles and their interaction at high energy levels.
The device has very intriguing dimensions: it occupies the entire building of the university, its weight is 36 thousand tons, and the diameter of the magnetic ring is 60 m. Quite impressive dimensions for a device whose main task is to study particles whose dimensions are measured in micrometers.
The principle of operation of the synchrophasotron
A lot of physicists tried to develop a device that would make it possible to accelerate particles, betraying them with enormous energy. The solution to this problem is the synchrophasotron. How does it work and what is the basis?
The beginning was laid by the cyclotron. Consider the principle of its operation. The ions that will accelerate fall into the vacuum where the dee is located. At this time, the ions are affected by a magnetic field: they continue to move along the axis, gaining speed. Having overcome the axis and hit the next gap, they begin to gain speed. For greater acceleration, a constant increase in the radius of the arc is required. In this case, the transit time will be constant, despite the increase in distance. Due to the increase in velocity, an increase in the mass of ions is observed.
This phenomenon entails a loss in speed gain. This is the main drawback of the cyclotron. In the synchrophasotron, this problem is completely eliminated by changing the induction of the magnetic field with a bound mass and simultaneously changing the frequency of particle recharging. That is, the energy of the particles is increased due to the electric field, setting the direction due to the presence of a magnetic field.