STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory:
General Public Access Day
Wednesday 21st August
RAL’s public access day is a terrific opportunity to see ‘behind the scenes’ at our world
leading facilities. Tours of several departments will be available:
ISIS
The ISIS pulsed neutron and muon source is a world centre
for research in the physical and life sciences. It produces
beams of neutrons and muons that allow scientists to
study materials at the atomic level using a suite of
instruments, often described as ‘super-microscopes’.
From the original vision over 30 years ago, ISIS has
become one of the UK’s major scientific achievements. As
one of the world’s leading neutron and muon sources, ISIS
has changed the way the world views neutron scattering.
THE ISIS ION SOURCE
The beam for the whole ISIS facility begins in a tiny ion source. This
produces H- ions, which are turned into protons that are accelerated and
used to generate neutrons. A community of more than 2000 scientists use
the neutrons to research subjects ranging from aircraft wings to babies’
lungs.
SPACE TESTING FACILITIES
To ensure instruments survive both a rocket launch and the extreme
conditions of space they need to be thoroughly tested on the ground
before they start their long journey to space. Here at RAL Space we can
perform these tests, and more, to ensure these sensitive instruments
operate for as long as possible. Come and find out how we keep things
clean, assemble them and test them in some of the UK’s leading space test
facilities.
ROBOT TESTING “MARS YARD”
The Autonomous Systems Group at RAL Space develops terrestrial
test equipment which is used to test instrumentation and software for
space. The group’s eleven robots are used not only to test
technologies for exploring the Moon and Mars, but also to research a
large number of potential applications here on Earth.
SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING
Computing affects all areas our lives, and is absolutely vital to the
advancement of science and technology – not to mention the
economy! The Scientific Computing Department at RAL is home to
large scale, state-of-the-art computing facilities, which are used to
study everything ranging from data produced at the Large Hadron
Collider to DNA.
Image credit: CERN
VULCAN CONTROL ROOM
Vulcan is a unique Petawatt (1015 Watts) laser which
delivers a focused beam – which for 1 picosecond
(0.000000000001 seconds) is 10,000 times more
powerful than the National Grid – to support a wideranging programme in fundamental physics and
advanced applications. Scientists from around the globe
use Vulcan to study everything from astrophysics to
nuclear reactions.
VULCAN TARGET AREA
When the Vulcan laser fires a laser pulse, the target in the
interaction chamber experiences a light intensity that is
similar to taking all of the sunlight shining on the Earth and
focussing it onto a pin head. The CLF’s Vulcan laser system
delivers pulses of light that are so extreme in intensity that
they are able to instantly rip apart and super heat matter to
millions of degrees, making the centre of our interaction
chambers the hottest place on the planet, albeit
momentarily. The physics of what happens during this extreme interaction is explored by capturing the
radiation that comes flying off at, or near to, the speed of light.
ASTRA
Astra is a high power, ultra-short pulse, high repetitionrate laser. It uses titanium-doped sapphire (TiS), and
works at 800 nm in the near infra-red, just outside the
region visible to the human eye. The pulses from Astra
are so short that they are like sheets of light energy
thinner than a human hair, which can be focused to a
spot a few thousandths of a millimetre across. The
energy they contain is thus delivered to a very small
target extremely quickly, allowing experimenters to
study the way matter behaves under extreme
conditions of temperature and pressure.
CENTRAL LASER FACILITY: TARGET FABRICATION
The Target Fabrication Group works with the scientists using the Central Laser
Facility to design and modify the targets of each particular experiment. They
also study novel target designs and micro-assembly techniques to be able to
deliver targets for the future high power lasers.
CRYOGENICS
The Cryogenics Group at RAL work with a wide variety of
instrumentation at incredibly low temperatures. They’re
involved in a huge diversity of projects – from designing
components of the ATLAS detector at CERN, to manufacturing
cryostats for the new Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA),
which studies the dust-obscured regions that are the birthplace
of stars and planets.
Image credit: ESO
LASERS FOR SCIENCE
Located in the Research Complex at Harwell, the Lasers for
Science Facility (LSF) uses the very latest imaging and
spectroscopy techniques to study biological and other
samples. Using the OCTOPUS and ULTRA imaging clusters,
anything from single molecules to whole tissues can be
imaged and studied.
METROLOGY
The Metrology group use a suite of state-of-the-art equipment
for the detailed measurements and analysis needed to solve
today’s engineering problems. They produce detailed electronic
reports, evaluate the hardness of materials and use the latest
laser tracking systems to accomplish their work and ensure that
the components produced for projects such as the ATLAS
detector match up to their design with pin-point accuracy.
CATAPULT
The Satellite Applications Catapult Delivery Team, or Catapult, is
one of seven technology and innovation centres established in
the country. It is funded by the Technology Strategy Board, and
works closely with RAL Space to ‘catapult’ the growth and
development of satellite space technology. This
commercialisation will lead to applications in many areas
including marine science, renewable energy and security.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
The Advanced Materials group work to develop and test prototypes for
many of STFC’s physics projects, both in the UK and abroad. By ensuring
that all of the materials are properly and thoroughly tested, we can be
sure that each particular device will function properly, even in the most
challenging of environments.
RESEARCH COMPLEX AT HARWELL
The Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH) is a new,
multidisciplinary laboratory that provides facilities for
researchers to undertake new and cutting edge scientific
research in both life and physical sciences and the interface
between them. Scientists use a wide variety of techniques –
from X-ray crystallography to transmission electron microscopy
to further our understanding of the world around us.