Miniature Particle Accelerator Powered by Lasers

Scientists have developed a nano-accelerator that uses lasers to push electrons to high speeds, making it significantly smaller and potentially cheaper than traditional particle accelerators. These tiny machines, known as nanophotonic accelerators, are less than half a millimeter long and use short bursts of laser pulses to accelerate particles. While they are not yet capable of replacing larger accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider, they could address questions that don't require extreme acceleration and have potential applications in targeted medical treatments. The researchers at Freidrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU) and Stanford have made significant progress in this field, with the FAU team building a fully functional particle accelerator on a chip. The next goal is to increase the energy gain to a level suitable for medical use.