World's smallest particle accelerator is 54 million times smaller than the Large Hadron Collider, and it works
Scientists have created world's first nanophotonic electron accelerator, which speeds negatively charged particles with mini laser pulses and is small enough to fit on a coin.
https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/particle-physics/worlds-smallest-particle-accelerator-is-54-million-times-smaller-than-the-large-hadron-collider-and-it-works #worlds #smallest #particle #accelerator #laserpulses
@steter @Nonog The article is comparing apples and oranges. The LHC accelerates protons, not electrons, and does it to an energy that is vastly larger. No doubt we'll be able to build more compact accelerators, but the energy of the beam still needs to be input, and this one will never be able to handle it. The article even points that out far down the page.
The comparison to the LHC is just clickbait. The tech is very interesting though. There are lots of applications for small accelerators.
@Nonog I suspect this feat will yield small accelerators capable of matching the LHC someday. Already it's quite efficient (assuming it works as advertised). There is a statement in the article from out of the blue that this will never happen. There are many things we think can't be done until someone proves us wrong. I think this may be one of them. A tip of the hat to the engineering team.