particle accelerator: Quick Facts

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Oct. 18, 2026

Photos and Videos

Diagram of a linear proton resonance accelerator, or linac, showing protons entering from a source, passing through a series of labeled drift tubes powered by a radio-frequency source, and exiting as a beam through a cavity.

schematic diagram of a Van de Graaff high-voltage electrostatic generator

Labeled diagram of a two-stage tandem particle accelerator showing a cylindrical steel pressure tank with gradient rings, a charging chain, and an accelerating tube. Negative ions enter, pass through a stripping chamber to become positive ions, and are then directed by magnets toward a target.

Diagram of a classical cyclotron showing a circular vacuum chamber with labeled dees, ion source, electric field region, and magnetic field. Red arrows trace the spiral path of accelerated particles exiting as a beam toward a target.

Diagram of a linear electron accelerator's acceleration chamber, showing a cylindrical waveguide with an electron beam traveling left to right through a series of metal irises that guide the electromagnetic wave.

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, California

schematic diagram of a synchrotron with alternating-gradient focusing

Figure 9: The tunnel of the Main Accelerator at Fermilab. The upper ring of conventional magnets comprise the fourth stage of particle acceleration. The particle beam can then be injected into the Tev

linear accelerator

How does a particle accelerator work?

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Learn about the Large Hadron Collider, its usage, and safety

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Topics

cyclic accelerator impulse accelerator colliding-beam storage ring linear accelerator constant-voltage accelerator Large Electron-Positron collider interaction region standing-wave linear accelerator tandem accelerator traveling-wave linear accelerator robot clock lubrication simple machine balance Spinning jenny sundial thermometer drilling machinery optical interferometer

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Key People

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Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton

Irish physicist

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Gerard K. O’Neill

American physicist

Cockcroft

Sir John Douglas Cockcroft

British physicist

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Gersh Itskovich Budker

Soviet physicist