HPCx

HPCx was a supercomputer (actually a cluster of IBM eServer p5 575 high-performance servers) located at the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, England. The supercomputer was maintained by the HPCx Consortium, UoE HPCX Ltd, which was led by the University of Edinburgh: EPCC, with the Science and Technology Facilities Council and IBM. The project was funded by EPSRC. The supercomputer was primarily used for various large-scale simulations such as molecular systems, crystalline structures, and coastal environments.

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Synchrotron Radiation Source

The Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) at the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, England was the first second-generation synchrotron light source to produce X-rays. The research facility provided synchrotron radiation to a large number of experimental stations and had an operating cost of approximately £20 million per annum. SRS had been operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The SRS was closed on 4 August 2008 after 28 years of operation.

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NINA (accelerator)

NINA (National Institute's Northern Accelerator) was a particle accelerator located at Daresbury Laboratory, UK that was used for particle physics and as a source of synchrotron radiation.

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EMMA (accelerator)

The electron machine with many applications or electron model for many applications (EMMA) was a linear non-scaling FFAG (fixed-field alternating-gradient) particle accelerator at Daresbury Laboratory in the UK that could accelerate electrons from 10 to 20 MeV. A FFAG is a type of accelerator in which the magnetic field in the bending magnets is constant during acceleration. This means the particle beam will move radially outwards as its momentum increases. Acceleration was successfully demonstrated in EMMA, paving the way for future non-scaling FFAGs to meet important applications in energy, security and medicine. A linear non-scaling FFAG is one in which a quantity known as the betatron tune is allowed to vary unchecked. In a conventional synchrotron such a variation would result in loss of the beam. However, in EMMA the beam crossed these resonances so rapidly that their effect was not seen. EMMA used the ALICE accelerator as a source of electrons and was situated in the same laboratory (specifically, in one of the experimental areas at the base of the Nuclear Structure Facility tower) at STFC's Daresbury site. EMMA was a proof-of-principle machine; the experience gained in building this machine was useful for future muon accelerators (which could be used in neutrino factories), and also for proton and carbon ion particle accelerators, which have applications for cancer therapy. Non-scaling FFAGs are a good candidate for use in an accelerator-driven subcritical reactor system in which a non-critical fission core is driven to criticality by a small accelerator. Future electrical power generation could be influenced heavily by the use power stations consisting of a sub-critical core containing a material such as thorium, and a small accelerator capable of providing extra neutrons via a spallation target. EMMA was funded by the BASROC consortium, under the CONFORM umbrella. Commissioning of EMMA began in June 2010 when the beam was injected and sent around part of the ring. Full ring commissioning commenced in August 2010. In March 31 2011, full ring circumnavigation was completed to establish proof of principle. By May 2016, decommissioning of both EMMA and ALICE started, and in 2019 the process was completed, with most components being donated to other facilities.

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ALICE (accelerator)

Accelerators and Lasers In Combined Experiments (ALICE), or Energy Recovery Linac Prototype (ERLP) was a 35MeV energy recovery linac test facility at Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, England. The project was originally conceived as a test bed for the 4th Generation Light Source (4GLS), and consisted of: A 350keV photoinjector laser. An 8.35MeV superconducting RF booster linac. A 35MeV superconducting RF main linac in which energy is recovered from used electron bunches and given to new bunches. An infrared free electron laser (FEL), using a permanent magnet undulator on permanent loan from Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF). An ERL transport system that transported electron bunches through the FEL and back to the linac with the correct RF phase to decelerate them and thereby to recover energy from them. The ALICE accelerator was an Energy Recovery Linac (ERL) that incorporated all the features of the 4th generation light source albeit at smaller scale. An ERL is not restricted by the dynamic properties of storage rings and, therefore, can attain an unprecedented electron beam brightness limited only by the electron gun. Energy recovery allows also a significant increase in an average power of the light sources (without building a dedicated power station nearby). The ability to produce ultra-short electron bunches well below 1ps and an availability of several light sources of different "colour" open up numerous possibilities for conducting investigations of fast processes on a femtosecond scale in molecular and solid state physics to name but a few. The ALICE project was extended by addition of a 19-cavity accelerating Non-Scaling FFAG ring, known as the EMMA project. Construction of the EMMA machine began in September 2009. On March 31, 2011, full ring circumnavigation was completed to establish proof of principle. By May 2016, decommissioning of both EMMA and ALICE started, and in 2019 the process was completed, with most components being donated to other facilities.

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