Researchers demonstrate 'accelerator on a chip'

The technology used to create a new mini-accelerator could spawn new generations of smaller, less expensive devices for science and medicine. In an advance that could dramatically shrink particle accelerators for science and medicine, researchers have used a laser to accelerate electrons at a rate 10 times higher than conventional technology in a nanostructured glass chip smaller than a grain of rice. The achievement was reported in Nature by a team including scientists from SLAC National Accele...