Particle accelerators, such as the 3MV tandem electrostatic accelerator and the new MACHINA accelerator, which is at present under development, represent the core of the laboratory activities.
At LABEC, the main accelerator is a tandem electrostatic accelerator with maximum terminal voltage of 3 MV. The system is equipped with three independent ion sources: a Duoplasmatron source, typically used to extract hydrogen ions and two sputtering ion sources exploiting caesium (Cs) ions (one of which fully dedicated to Accelerator Mass Spectrometry – AMS – measurements). On the high-energy side, six different beam lines are installed, each of them dedicated to a specific technique or application: AMS, Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) – both in vacuum and with external beam – for environment and cultural heritage, and implantations/modification of materials.
The accelerator and the six beam lines are constantly updated and modified to optimize each set-up and to adapt them to the different needs related to the experiments and to the ongoing measurements campaigns.
LABEC is also dedicated to the development of innovative accelerator machines, such as MACHINA (Movable Accelerator for Cultural Heritage In situ Non-destructive Analysis), the first movable particle accelerator dedicated to cultural heritage. MACHINA is developed with CERN KT (Geneva) and Opificio delle Pietre Dure (Firenze) in the framework of a project, whose LABEC is the scientific coordinator, funded by Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca.
Thanks to its fundamental characteristic of the portability, MACHINA is going to transform the study and the diagnostic of cultural heritage and to help experts and researchers to analyze thoroughly and in a non-invasive way artworks and historical finds, which are unmovable, such as frescos, or those of great dimensions, or – again – those that are non transportable due to their critical preservation conditions.
MACHINA is based on the radio frequency quadrupole technology (HF-RFQ), already developed at CERN. This technology allows us to realize an extremely compact and relatively light machine: about 2 meters long and 300 kg weight. In particular, LABEC deals with the development of the low energy side, including the ion source and the injection section, and of the high energy side, equipped with an external beam PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission) set-up, as well as with the all accelerator control systems.
