Japanese research team accelerates muons to 0.3 MeV, taking a step toward the world's only muon accelerator
A research team comprising the J-PARC Center, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), the University of Tokyo, Tokai National Higher Education and Research System, Nagoya University, and RIKEN recently completed muon cooling and radio-frequency acceleration experiments in the newly constructed muon acceleration experimental area at the J-PARC Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility, successfully accelerating muons to a kinetic energy of 0.3 MeV, corresponding to approximately 8% of the speed of light. Conceptual diagram of cooling and accelerating positive muon beams. By cooling positive muons with non-uniform direction and velocity, efficient high-frequency acceleration can be achieved. Muons are elementary particles similar to electrons that can be artificially produced by accelerators and are widely used in materials science, particle physics research...
2026-09-07
