Designing next-generation accelerators Innovative ways to accelerate particles are studied at the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator being adjusted by engineer Richard Konecny. But for economic and technical reasons, klystron technology cannot be scaled up. In this new kind of accelerator, the acceleration mechanism can be compared to that of a transformer. In this new device, electrons flow through vacuum rather than wire as in a traditional transformer.
Lasers create the high-current electron beam.
When used with the beam transformer technique, the pulse train will simultaneously give a longer accelerating distance and higher power. These different acceleration technologies can be compared to different methods for powering vehicles. A technology useful at low speeds, like the internal combustion engine, cannot be extended for space travel. Argonne is exploring two different beam transformer techniques. One, called the dielectric wakefield transformer, is perhaps the simplest and the closest to existing accelerator techniques.