WIREDGOV

The UK is poised to enter a highly lucrative market that could be worth more than £1 billion globally within the next ten years.

The market for supplying highly specialised technology for the construction of next generation light sources and particle accelerators, which enable breakthroughs in treatments for cancer and sources of cleaner energy, is a dynamic and growing industry. A collaboration between experts at STFC and Shakespeare Engineering Ltd, has given the UK the technical capability to supply key specialist components for these large international experimental facilities.

One hundred years after superconductivity was discovered, Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) has become the preferred technology for the design, development and construction of many of these large international experimental machines. Facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider and Diamond Light Source carry out world leading research in areas that include health, security, energy and the environment and are even solving the mysteries of the Universe.

Until now there has been no manufacturing capability for SRF in the UK. However, a collaboration between Essex-based company Shakespeare Engineering Ltd and ASTeC, STFC's accelerator science and technology division, means that the UK will soon be able to bid for work to supply SRF technology components for light source and particle accelerator projects around the world.

Graham Evans, MP for Weaver Vale, said: "This is an excellent example of how collaboration between research and industry can lead to new technologies and products, opening up market opportunities that can stimulate the economy, create new jobs and therefore benefit society."

ASTeC and Shakespeare, in association with Jefferson Laboratories in the USA, have just reached a significant milestone in this collaboration, by completing the design, manufacture and validation of the UK’s first bulk Niobium SRF accelerating structure. Niobium SRF technology is a highly efficient way of accelerating beams through particle accelerators to very high energies and is a core technology in current and future particle accelerators. However, it is a highly specialised technology as the Niobium material must be extremely pure for accelerator applications, and any impurities will significantly limit acceleration performance.

Funded by STFC, the Mini Innovations Partnership Scheme (Mini-IPS) is designed to transfer technology and expertise developed by STFC scientists and engineers to the marketplace in partnership with UK industry and other academic disciplines.

Neil Shakespeare, Director of Shakespeare Engineering Ltd, said: "Through this collaboration with STFC and ASTeC, Shakespeare Engineering has been able to learn and develop the principle processes required for the fabrication, handling and validation of these critically sensitive devices. We are now on the verge of becoming an important addition to an extremely small list of companies globally who can offer accelerating structures of this type to a thriving accelerator community worldwide."

Peter McIntosh of ASTeC said: "There is a range of current and proposed international projects for which this advanced technology is key – from next generation light sources, to a neutrino factory, muon colliders and high intensity proton facilities. It is fantastic news that, through STFC's Mini-IPS Scheme and our collaboration, Shakespeare Engineering is now in an excellent position to enter into what is potentially a very profitable market for UK industry."

Notes to Editors

Contacts

• Stephanie Hills
  Media Manager
  Science and Technology Facilities Council
  Tel: +44 (0)1235 445 398

Superconductivity centenary

This year marks 100 years since superconductivity was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in Holland back in 1911, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1913. Since then, developments in this field have enabled scientists around the world make breakthrough discoveries in almost every field of science. Without it, large scale facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider and the Diamond Light Source could not have been realised.

STFC Innovations Partnership Schemes (IPS and mini-IPS)

STFC's Innovations Partnership Scheme (IPS) is designed to transfer technology and expertise developed through STFC funding to the marketplace in partnership with industry and other academic disciplines. STFC technology or expertise must be integral to the project. The technology or expertise can be developed with STFC funding at UK higher education institutes, STFC laboratories, CERN and ESO.

A full IPS project provides a maximum project value of £150k per annum, over a period not exceeding three years.

Mini-IPS provides the facility to make an application for a small project, up to £150k over a period not exceeding 12 months.

Find out more about STFC's Innovations Partnership Schemes, including how to apply.