Youth and science

First-hand knowledge

On 19 - 23 June, the School of Accelerator Physics (SAP-2023) for JINR staff was held at the Lipnya Tourist Base. Within the framework of the School, the JINR staff at-tended a course of lectures by leading scientists and specialists on the basic principles of operation and basic systems of charged particle accelerators. The participants shared their impressions of the event.

Almost three dozen young specialists gathered at the Lipnya Tourist Base to get an idea of accelerator physics and learn about the latest achievements of science and technology in the field of physics of charged particle beams and accelerators.

The idea of reviving an event of this format was literally "in the air". It is somewhat expected that the VBLHEP with one of the flagship projects of the Institute - the NICA complex and the AYSS were at the forefront of this initiative, since young employees are most interested in profes-sional development.

A VBLHEP employee Viktor Baryshnikov that develops the TOF time-of-flight system and the electromagnetic calorimeter of the MPD detector, shared his impressions about the first day of the event with us: "The School started well: immediately after arrival we had lunch and afterwards, in a friendly, informal atmosphere we listened to a number of interesting lectures. I hope that the School will allow me to diversify my experience as a programmer - it is very useful to learn the field you work in from a new perspective. It was my first visit to Lipnya and my expectations were met - it is a well-maintained territory with good living conditions! I would advise those that could not at-tend this School to sign up for the next one. In conclusion, I would like to wish that more employ-ees take part in these kinds of events.

The programme of lectures at the School covered a wide range of issues. Starting with his-torical projects and prerequisites for the development of high energy accelerators and the re-quirements to the parameters of charged particle beams from the physical experiment, the stu-dents moved directly to the facilities and their design, afterwards to individual systems. Such com-plex but no less interesting and unique topics as working with spin-polarized beams (from produc-tion to control of polarization during acceleration and experimentation), systems and techniques of electronic and stochastic cooling, synchrotron radiation sources, cryogenics of superconducting accelerators and radiation safety at the accelerator complex were not neglected. The course was rounded off with a lecture by Anatoly Olegovich Sidorin on the operation of the systems of the ac-celerator complex during a beam session that described the sequence and order of interaction be-tween systems, facilities and operating personnel, thus summarizing and developing a compre-hensive understanding of the material covered during the week.

At the end of the second day of the School of Accelerator Physics, two participants from the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, graduates of Tomsk Polytechnic University, a shift supervisor at DC-280 Ivan Pishchalnikov and an engineer of accelerator systems calculation Vladislav Lisov spoke about their impressions. Ivan notes: "While working on the cyclotron with heavy ion beams that is a somewhat different field of accelerator application, it was interesting to learn the "other side of the coin" and I consider it very useful for development. For example, I learnt what kind of resonators are used at synchrotrons, what control systems can and are expected to be used at the NICA complex, some aspects of accelerator physics. In general, the School turns out to be very informative".

Vladislav: "It is a little bit difficult to perceive the material on the subject of the School, yet it is very interesting. There were lectures on microwave technology, device of control systems based on Tango-controls software. Despite the fact that I had already heard some of the material of the last lecture at the seminar in memory of V.P.Sarantsev the previous year, the content was inter-esting. I would also like to mention the lectures of Valery Anatolievich Lebedev. He is a very good speaker, his explanations are clear, from basic concepts to complex things. One can sense a per-son with a lot of experience. Also, one of the motives for my visit was to find out what my col-leagues from another laboratory do, as it is difficult to get there during working hours.

At the end of each day of the scientific programme there was an opportunity to discuss the obtained material with all lecturers and ask questions that had "matured" during the day. In such a rich and productive atmosphere, the participants unnoticeably overcame a kind of "equator" of the event. It is worth noting that the membership of the participants was not only diverse in terms of the presented laboratories (VBLHEP, FLNP, DLNP, FLNR), but also to the surprise of the organis-ers, international.

An engineer from VBLHEP Tatyana Kudinova shared her impressions: "The new knowl-edge that is given here comes from completely different spheres than those in which I work. But of course, they concern our area. It is interesting to learn what people around us are engaged in. The living conditions on the island exceeded all our expectations! I hope to meet the participants of the School next year and I wish those that could not participate to try to get here. Believe me - it's worth it!"

In addition to lectures, the School programme included free time when participants could have informal conversations, play sports, go fishing or just relax in the fresh air, taking advantage of the favourable weather. In addition, a festive dinner was held on the eve of the final day of School.

One of the participants of the School a leading engineer at FLNP Alexey Likhachev said that he was strongly recommended to attend the event by a colleague. "I had a positive impres-sion, there were a lot of interesting lectures," Alexey shares his impression. "It is worth noting that the lectures were not only on interesting topics, but were also presented at a high level by serious experts in their field. They included a wide range of topics on accelerator technology from the problems of implementing a physical experiment to power supply systems for magnetic structure and vacuum technology. This was very useful, like hearing questions from colleagues that had travelled to the School. I was initially interested in the lectures on control systems and automation in the School programme, as we have to deal with this issue in our department. It was also inter-esting to learn from other areas, such as vacuum technology. In particular, thanks to the lecturer, I was able to learn some peculiarities of development and operation of vacuum technology that were known to the "old" School and I am glad that there is such a continuity of generations. Be-sides, in my opinion, the venue was very well chosen. There are few distractions and one can completely immerse oneself in the material of the lectures, its realization and discussion. As a re-sult, we have formed a small group of like-minded people. I would like to see future schools held in similar places.

A researcher at DLNP Alexey Rudakov learnt about the School from the AYSS newsletter. He had been to the Association's events on Lipnya before, so he immediately decided to register, and his supervisor supported this initiative. A. Rudnev believes that everything was organised at a high level. "As for the lecture programme, it was interesting for me to broaden my horizons in the field of design and development of the NICA project. The fact that the lecture programme was partly oriented towards this area was a key factor in my decision to take part in the School. I liked the fact that the recreation centre has been renovated. Accommodation has become much more comfortable, there are even mosquito nets on the windows. It is worth noting that not only young specialists could take part in this School. There was an opportunity to improve their skills for em-ployees that are beyond the age limits of young people. As a suggestion, I would like to recom-mend the organizers to post the materials of the lectures in advance, so that it would be possible to prepare questions to the speakers in advance."

With such moods and plans for the future, the participants went back home. In addition to VBLHEP, other laboratories are also widely interested in holding such Schools; FLNR, for exam-ple, has already started preparations for the next one. "It is obvious that there is a great need for specialists in accelerator technology and it is necessary to exchange knowledge and experience, for today, there are not so many specialists of this level left," A. Likhachev says. "I hope that in the future, the School will also attract specialists and students from other centres, so it was a pleasure to meet here lecturers not from JINR. For those that take their first steps in the field of accelerator technology, I highly recommend attending such events. Here, there is an opportunity to learn from specialists directly involved in the operation of accelerators. And this is the most valuable knowl-edge that cannot be obtained from the Internet.

So, see you at next year's School!

Mikhail Shandov