Surrounded by mountains and next to the beautiful lake Annecy, the 2022 Advanced Course on Accelerator Physics brought a fantastic and challenging year for the CERN Accelerator School (CAS) to a close.
The Advanced Course on Accelerator Physics is a pillar of the CAS programme and is a perfect way to finish a busy year for the school. Advanced schools and topical schools are the most challenging schools to organise. To give an example, CAS shipped more than two tonnes of equipment from different locations to the hotel venue for this two-week course. Dr Piotr Kowina from GSI, one of the most experienced teachers of radio-frequency (RF), started installation of the equipment three days before the start of the course, and the rest of the teachers followed shortly after. “Most of the material came from CERN -six boxes- GSI -two boxes- and another two boxes from DESY“, remarks Piotr.
When you enter one of the rooms designated for the hands-on, you can hear the Vector Network Analyser humming, the Spectrum Analyser beeping, and traces in all colours across the screens. The hotel is transformed into a lab. "The experiments have been designed especially for this course to challenge the students,” adds Piotr. “We are constantly thinking about how to improve the next course. Sometimes, we develop new experiments based on the student's questions. Thinking about how to reply to a question can give us an idea of an experiment for the next school."
After a break due to the pandemic, CAS successfully managed to run three schools in two different countries this year. The logistics for the schools is always challenging, but if you add the various COVID-19 restrictions in all countries, which can change at any time, the difficulties multiply. "We will continue monitoring the COVID situation, but we are thrilled to be back in an in-person mode in 2022.” says Frank Tecker, Director of the school. “The networking opportunities during the school are essential for the CAS experience. You can't replace this online."
In addition, the updated proceedings on an Introduction to Particle Accelerators were published and distributed to participants. These proceedings are carefully curated and edited by the CAS team, and the lecturers are a reference in the field of accelerator physics. “Thanks to the lecturers, the result is a reference work that accelerator physics students will benefit from for many years to come", explains Frank. These proceedings are published, and they are publicly accessible here.
Next year, CAS will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. "It is an opportunity for us to go through the school's history and value, and acknowledge the impact of a unique school like ours," says Frank. In addition to an Introductory course, two topical schools are scheduled: RF for accelerators, and Magnets. "The topical courses are fundamental because they cover in-depth relevant fields for accelerators with state-of-the-art presentations and hands-on courses," Frank remarks.
Inscriptions for the 2023 schools are now open, and the CAS community cannot wait to welcome its new students. You can find more information on CAS courses and how to apply on the CERN Accelerator School’s official website and LinkedIn profile.