Physicists at Fermilab and throughout the world are contemplating building a powerful new linear collider by Sharon Butler E urope wants one.
Japan wants one.
It's already been dubbed the Next Linear Collider. Reaching that level of commitment requires a solid understanding of the capabilities of such a machine, its cost and its physics promise. Which is, in part, the reason why Fermilab joined the U.S. NLC collaboration last summer. Collaborating with the Japanese particle physics laboratory KEK, SLAC has developed high-powered components for the NLC, including quadrupole magnets to focus the beams, accelerating structures and klystrons. In SLAC's concept of the NLC, the power from the klystron tubes would be transferred to a copper accelerating structure and then to the beams, giving the electrons and their antimatter counterparts a powerful kick as they pass along the accelerator's length.