Tabletop particle accelerator could transform medicine and materials science

Tabletop particle accelerator could transform medicine and materials science

Carsten WelschA particle accelerator that produces intense X-rays could be squeezed into a device that fits on a table, my colleagues and I have found in a new research project. The way that intense X-rays are currently produced is through a facility called a synchrotron light source. These are used to study materials, drug molecules and biological tissues. Even the smallest existing synchrotrons, however, are about the size of a football stadiu…