Thanks to the close working contacts with PSI and CERN laboratories the Laboratory of Particle Accelerator Physics can propose several Physics projects and Master thesis on front edge research topics with experimental work in one of this accelerator facilities.
Some example of past Master thesis are available at the following links:
Control of proton beam self-modulation for AWAKE via initial beam parameters
Simulations of the Spin Polarization for the Future Circular Collider e+e- using Bmad
There are several topics and continuously changing depending on the accelerator availabilities. A presentation with some of the laboratory activities can be found in LPAP annual presentation.
If you are interested in joining our team and work on some exciting accelerator design and or operation please fill in the online form. We will come back to you asap.
Available Master Projects:
Transverse beam shape monitors based on secondary emission electrons are one of the crucial and most widespread instruments in accelerators. They relay on the measurement of the current generated by the electrons escaping from the material. Those electrons are produced promptly during the passage of a bunch and their trajectories are strongly influenced by the bunch field. The task is to simulate the electric field in the vicinity of the wire in the presence of a particle bunch and track electron movement in this field. The programs which will be used are CST studio and eventually Virtual-IPM. This study aims to help understand observations of deformation of beam shape measured by those monitors when exposed to high-intensity beams.
The project will be at PSI in collaboration with Dr Mariusz Sapinski
Project Type: Master’s Project
Duration: 6 months
Project description
Located at the Paul Scherrer Institut, a new high power, radio-frequency (RF) test facility for high gradient photoguns is under development. The facility will be the home of two new RF guns, which are designed to be the electron sources for the next generation of particle accelerators. The successful applicant(s) of this Master’s project will work with the primary investigator of this project on the development of a novel field-emission electron source. These field-emission sources aim to simplify the electron source by removing the requirement of a high power laser. The primary task of the candidate will be to assist in the design and realisation of the field-emission cathodes. This will include the electromagnetic (EM) modelling of the cathode(s) and performing detailed particle tracking simulations of the electron beam inside the intense EM fields. Furthermore, the applicant will have the opportunity to perform experimental measurements of the cathode’s performance on the test facility to valid the particle tracking models.
For the update of the Swiss Light Source at PSI, it is planned to make extensive use of different types of magnets, not based on electromagnetism but on permanent magnet materials instead. However, available permanent magnet materials usually have a magnetization, which is varying with temperature. To counter this effect of temperature dependency and to build magnets with a reliable consistency in magnetic field over a wide range of temperatures, materials with temperature dependent permeability can be used to either enhance of reduce the effective field of a magnet. With the right design, such a material can be used to cancel the temperature dependency of permanent magnet materials over the operating temperature range in a particle accelerator such as SLS.
In the design process of such magnet systems, it is crucial to have reliable temperature dependent material data on hand. Since such data is not always available from reliable sources, the topic of this master thesis is the design, construction and evaluation of a measurement system for determining the magnetic permeability of material samples at different temperatures.
The magnetic permeability can be measured by use of an “Epstein Frame”. This measurement technique is standardized and described in DIN EN 60404-2:2009-01.
During the course of this thesis, an “Epstein Frame” should be constructed according to the defined standard, but with the capability of being used in a range of temperatures between 77K and 400K. This requires the selection of suited materials for the task as well as adjustments to the measurement technique and thermal control of the material samples during a measurement.
The outcome of the proposed measurement setup should be verified versus other measurement techniques for determining magnetic permeability, e.g. a vibrating-sample magnetometer (VSM).
Within the last 10 years, proton therapy has established itself as a valid treatment option for tumours in radiotherapy.
Large aperture magnets (200-250 mm) producing a magnetic field around 5 T can help improving the treatment. According to these requirements, superconducting magnets are the enabling technology.
The magnet section of PSI already developed a general design for a similar magnet that would now require to be customized.
Starting from the already existing design, the main tasks related to the aforementioned position are:
- Magnetic design of a possible superconducting dipole magnet
- Selection of the most suited superconducting material
- Thermal and mechanical design of the superconducting magnet.
Description: Transition crossing is unavoidable in most circular accelerators, and its possible harmful effects are mitigated in several ways, generally by implementing gamma-jump gymnastics. Recently, a beam manipulation technique, based on the use of stable islands, inspired by the idea of Multi-Turn Extraction, has been proposed to cross transition energy. This idea involves generating empty stable islands using sextupoles and octupoles, which have a different transition energy than that of the original closed orbit. The beam will then be kicked into these stable islands just before transition, accelerated, and kicked back to their original path just after transition, so that effectively the particles do not experience the transition crossing. This could be studied for a realistic accelerator lattice of the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron ring in view of a possible experimental test.
This project will be done at CERN on the Super Proton Synchrotron SPS.
The Future Circular Collider for electron-positron collisions (FCC-ee) is one of the main candidates to further study fundamental particle interactions and push constraints on the Standard Model. The FCC-ee will face very challenging obstacles due to its ambitious optics design, energies, and luminosity goals.
To reach the desired luminosity an unprecedented control of the interaction point optics is required. The coupling of vertical and horizontal plane optics can critically cripple the designed optics in the interactin regions and thus greatly affect the luminosity reach. It should therefore be well understood and controlled.
The aim of this project is to explore the causes of coupling, understand its effect on the optics design, and investigate correction schemes. With this project you will dive into the fascinating world of accelerator optics and be able to have a direct impact on the FCC-ee design studies.
While accelerator optics codes have very powerful optimization routines, the design phases of circular accelerators and particle colliders are to this day still greatly reliant on human interference. Optimization algorithms have significantly evolved with the arrival of machine learning techniques and AI. While these new methods are widely used in industry and other scientific fields, they are only recently finding traction in the field of accelerator physics. Still, these applications are more commonly found in accelerator operation and anomaly detection, and the field of accelerator design remains mostly untouched. The aim of this project is to explore novel optimization techniques for the bare bones design of circular particle accelerators. It is a first venture into this field that will help identify challenges and opportunities for more efficient optics designs of future particle accelerators and colliders.