“Seeking a strong student interested in superconducting materials, high-field superconducting magnets, and applications to real-world problems…”
There’s a professor at Texas A&M who’s been impressed with the caliber of students coming out of our department. He’s had past PHAS grads come do their grad studies with him, and is interested in recruiting more.
Accelerator Research Laboratory
Accelerator Research Laboratory (ARL) is a non-profit laboratory with the mission to conduct research and development of the physics and technology of particle accelerators and their use in applications in energy and biomedicine. Dr. Peter McIntyre worked for 42 years as a professor of physics at Texas A&M University, and during that time he conducted research and technology development in those areas. He retired effective in September 2023, and he founded ARL to continue those activities.
ARL employs a team of three (3) experienced technical staff and hosts the dedicated efforts of four (4) TAMU physics Ph.D. students and two (2) undergraduate honors students. The staff and students all have multiple years’ experience working in challenging projects with Dr. McIntyre and his staff. The ARL team is small, well-motivated, and skilled at coupling innovative design and expert fabrication and testing. ARL occupies two new high-bay, air-conditioned buildings, with floor area 7500 sq. ft.
ARL undertakes R&D grants and contracts to design, build, and test components and systems that embody new innovations in superconducting electromagnetics. The team’s areas of accomplishment include superconducting magnets, superconducting materials, superconducting rf cavities, beam cooling techniques, and fundamental accelerator physics. Dr. McIntyre has developed advanced components and authored system designs for applications:
- 20 T dipoles for possible future high-energy collider;
- 20 T ramped solenoid for compact fusion tokamaks;
- accelerator-driven subcritical fission systems for safe, zero-waste fission power;
- compact superconductor gantires for particle bean cancer therapy;
- 1.5 T open-MRI walk-through imager to make MRI affordable for well-patient screening for early-stage breast cancer;
- magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 1.5 GHz;
- superconducting generators for 20 MW wind turbines;
- and a new generation of superconducting transmission line capable of carrying ~GW AC power in a compact buried cable
- Several of these developments have been adopted in practice both at national laboratories and in industry
ARL has an extensive body of equipment and materials that enable development, fabrication, and testing of instruments and systems that use superconducting magnets, cryogenics, accelerator systems, and related technologies. Capabilities include:
- 3D CAD design and simulation
- advanced multi-physics modeling using COMSOL
- superconducting wire fabrication
- cabling of cable-in-conduit
- precision machining using mills, lathes, surface-grinding
- wire EDM
- laser welding
- metallurgical characterization
- cabling and of superconducting magnets
- high-temp heat treatment
ARL is currently building a “He-free” test cryostat for high-current testing of superconducting materials and model magnets at 4.2 K and 30 K temperature.
