Moonscape

ISIS is a particle physics laboratory in Oxfordshire, U.K that houses a synchrotron — or particle accelerator — which creates beams of neutrons and muons traveling at 84 percent of light speed. Scientists use the beams to explore physics, chemistry, biology and other fields on a subatomic level. The synchrotron's neutron beam has a special ability to view the atomic world in a detailed, non-destructive way. This image illustrates the science that can be done at ISIS.

The ISIS synchrotron is used to accelerate a 200µA proton beam to 800 MeV (84% of the speed of light). This acceleration is performed using an RF system that captures and accelerates the beam in 'RF buckets'. Here we see the beam density of a small diagnostic beam in a single bucket during its acceleration. The mountain peaks show the beam bunching at the bucket edges. The evolution of the beam pulse shape is known as Synchrotron Motion.

--LiveScience Staff

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Credit: ISIS Facility