2009 CSL Undergraduate Summer Research Stipend Report
Aram Apyan | Evan Estola | Erik Harpstead | Jae Kwan Lee | Ryan McClure | Jesse Reinhardt | Peter Schemmel | Andrew Yates
| Aram Apyan Yagmur Torun DETECTING FIELD EMISSION IN SUPERCONDUCTING CAVITIES USING CERENKOV RADIATION |  |  |
Physicists build particle accelerators to accelerate elementary particles to the speed of light and study their collisions to advance the understanding of the small-scale structure of the universe. Professor Torun develops technologies to improve particle accelerators. This summer, he worked with Aram to test the use of Cerenkov radiation to detect field emission, which can reduce accelerator performance, in superconducting cavities.
The superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities of accelerators are electromagnetic resonators with exquisite precision operated at 2 Kelvin for maximum efficiency in generating electric fields for accelerating particles.
"Dark current" in terms of accelerators is the extra current of electrons stripped from the inner surface of accelerating cavities. It can interfere with the main accelerator beam.
As Torun and Aram wrote, "SRF cavities are made of thin metal shells in a metal liquid helium vessel. This system can be viewed as a Cerenkov radiator between a set of mirrors. Field emitted electrons can punch through the cavity wall and generate Cerenkov light in helium, which can be collected by appropriate photodetectors."
Aram used GEANT4, a C++based software framework used in most modern high-energy physics experiments, to create a simulation of electron and Cerenkov photon transport in a TESLA-type superconducting cavity to evaluate the feasibility of the method.
He presented "Cerenkov Light Diagnostics for Superconducting Cavities" at an American Physical Society meeting in Detroit, in July.
Aram co-wrote the article "Detecting Neutrino Magnetic Moments with Conducting Loops" published in Physical Review D1 in February 2008. He is fascinated with gravity and astrophysics, plans to get a Ph.D. in physics, and wants to get as much research experience as possible while at IIT. He also is interested in other things, including ancient history. "It's important to be a well-developed person," he said. "Life is too interesting to focus on just one thing."
Download the 2009 Undergraduate Summer Research Stipend report. (1 MB .pdf)
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