Where to Find Facilities for Physics Research

Some aspects of small physics research require the use of large so phisticated facilities not normally available in research laboratories such as synchrotron radiation and neutron sources, powerful electron microscopes and large reactors. A brief description of 23 national facilities for research related to the physics of condensed matter thai are available to qualified scientists from other laboratories is found in “National Facilities for Research in the Physics of Condensed Matter,” Review of Scientific Instrumentation, vol. 55, 1984, pp. 20-30. The facilities are grouped according to this outline: " I. Neutron Sources. " II. Synchrotron Radiation Sources. " III. Facilities for Microanalysis, Microfabrication and Surface Studies. " IV. Electron Microscopes. " V. Other Facilities. User-contact information is given for each of the facilities listed. “Big physics” research—high-energy and fusion physics, and much of that in nuclear physics—is performed at large facilities. The cost of one high-energy or fusion experiment is often in excess of $10 million. High-energy physics research in the United States is funded primarily by the Department of Energy at such places as the national laboratories, including the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) and at universities. The Stanford Linear Accelerator with the storage ring SPEAR, at Palo Alto, and the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, Ithaca, NY, are publicly supported facilities, and therefore available to qualified outside users. Resources at Brookhaven The Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), operated by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUT), was formed in 1946 to seek new knowledge in the nuclear sciences and related fields through programs that require large-scale research tools, and to encourage the use of those large-scale facilities by scientists of university, industrial and other laboratories. Now, 40 years later, BNL consists of more than 250 buildings and other structures and employs about 3,000 persons. Another 1,500 scientists and students from other institutions do research there for varying periods throughout the year. Outside users who wish to retain title to any inventions resulting from work at BNL and to treat as proprietary all data generated during work at the facility, have the option to do so, provided they enter into a formal “Proprietary User’s Agreement” with BNL. In this case, the user pays the full-cost recovery to BNL for machine time and any related technical services the laboratory provides. Industrial researchers are encouraged to make use of BNL’s facilities and the Office of Research and Technology Applications has been set upto assist industrial researchers in making arrangements to do so. General information on the research facilities of BNL may be obtained from Brookhaven National Laboratory Associated Universities, Inc., Upton, NY 11973. Some of the facilities available for outside users are listed in the box. For information on opportunities for industrial research at Brookhaven contact William Marcuse, Office of Research and Technology Applications, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973. Telephone: (516) 282-2103. Resources at Fermilab Fermilab consists of four miles of tunnel filled with sophisticated magnets and a 6,800-acre site where a wide array of engineering and physics disciplines are amalgamated. The technology-related programs at Fermilab include ion beams, superconductivity, cryogenics, laminar tooling, vacuum systems, high-power rf, computer simulation, beam optics, design with computers, computer controls, data processing, new computer architecture, electronic particle detectors, holography, solar energy and neutron cancer therapy. In 1980 Fermilab Industrial Affiliates was established as a systematic attempt to bring the laboratory to the attention of industry and to find ways of effectively disseminating its scientific and technological developments. For information about the Affiliates or about technological developments at Fermilab, the contact persons are R. Carrigan at (312) 840-3200 and Henry Hinterberger at (312) 840-3395, Fermilab, Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510. High-energy physics is a field in which scientists from all over the world work together in a common endeavor, and there is no better proof of this than Fermilab. Of the 225 institutions represented in the laboratory’s research program, about half of them are U.S. scientists and the other half come from other countries. Resources in Other Countries American scientists can also participate in physics research in foreign countries. The Institut Langevin, at Grenoble, France; the spallation neutron sources at Tsukuba, Japan, and at the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory in England; and the large CERN Center at Geneva have facilities that attract physicists from all the developed areas of the world including the United States. Martin Blume and David Moncton in “Large Facilities for CondensedMatter Science” (Physics Today, March 1985) list the major neutron and synchrotron radiation sources operating or planned throughout the world at the time of the writing. Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, compiles an annual Guide to Scientific Instruments, which contains invaluable information about the latest developments in instrumentation. It is well organized, and is indexed by vendors. More information about this publication can be obtained from Science, 1515 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20005. White is author of The Handbook of research Laboratory Management, to be published by ISI Press in December 1987, from which this articles has been excerpted. Copyright © 1987 by ISI Press.

Where to Find Facilities for Physics Research

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Virginia White

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November 1987

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