Tandem Van de Graaff
Encyclopedia
The Tandem Van de Graaff at Brookhaven National Laboratory
was built in 1970 and was at the time the world's largest electrostatic accelerator facility. It can provide researchers with beams of more than 40 different types of ions that have been completely stripped of their electrons, ranging from hydrogen
to iron
. The facility consists of two 15 million volt electrostatic accelerators, each about 24 meters long.
Currently, the Tandem Van de Graaff serves as the ion source for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
(RHIC). The ions are generated in the Tandem Van de Graaff, they then travel through a 700 meter-long tunnel called the Tandem to Booster (TtB) Line that delivers the ions to the Alternating Gradient Booster that then delivers the ions to the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron
(AGS), which accelerates the ions further before final entry into RHIC.
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory , is a United States national laboratory located in Upton, New York on Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base...
was built in 1970 and was at the time the world's largest electrostatic accelerator facility. It can provide researchers with beams of more than 40 different types of ions that have been completely stripped of their electrons, ranging from hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
to iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
. The facility consists of two 15 million volt electrostatic accelerators, each about 24 meters long.
Currently, the Tandem Van de Graaff serves as the ion source for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider is one of two existing heavy-ion colliders, and the only spin-polarized proton collider in the world. It is located at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York and operated by an international team of researchers...
(RHIC). The ions are generated in the Tandem Van de Graaff, they then travel through a 700 meter-long tunnel called the Tandem to Booster (TtB) Line that delivers the ions to the Alternating Gradient Booster that then delivers the ions to the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron
Alternating Gradient Synchrotron
The Alternating Gradient Synchrotron is a particle accelerator located at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, New York, USA....
(AGS), which accelerates the ions further before final entry into RHIC.