BARC develops advanced particle accelerator

MUMBAI, APRIL 27: The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre's BARC Nuclear Physics Division had something genuinely to crow about -- given the r...

MUMBAI, APRIL 27: The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre8217;s BARC Nuclear Physics Division had something genuinely to crow about 8212; given the recent adverse publicity it received owing to the quot;dissidentquot; scientist Prithwish Sain. And it was proud group leader of Project Fotia, Pitambar Singh, who demonstrated to journalists on Thursday the completely barring the odd component or two indigenised Folded Tandem Ion Accelerator Fotia constructed by his division in tandem with 15 other departments of the BARC.

Till 1994, the BARC had to make do with the imported Van-de-Graff accelerator which had to be decommissioned in 1994. The new design was distinct from the old accelerator on several fronts. For one, the Van-de-Graff machine had the ion feeder housed in the accelerator itself and could take its ions from either Hydrogen or Helium. Fotia can take its ions from virtually any source, including uranium if needed. Moreover it employs a different technology, in that the ion feeder sourced is located outside the actual accelerator. While the earlier machine had a maximum emergy of 5.5 MeV, Fotia can provide up to 77 MeV. The other improvements relate to the type of pumps diffusion pumps against the current sputter ion and turbomolecular pumps0, the insulating gas mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide against Sulphur hexafluoride and the number of magnets used one of 90 degrees against three of 7020, 180 and 90. Against a market price of Rs 20 crore to obtain a similarly designed accelerator, the BARC producedthe machine at a fraction of the price, estimated at about Rs 3 crore and it took 5 years to construct it.

Only two other accelerators of similar capabilities exist in the world according to BARC scientists making India among the world leaders in acclerator technology. The process is in quot;acceleratingquot; negative ions into the accelerator, which sheds its electrons due to the 180 degrees magnet at the top of the accelerator and gets converted into positive ions and then comes out as a beam used for various analytical experiments in the nulcear field.

The success of the effort culminated on Good Friday 8212; Pitambar Singh made it a point to emphasise the coincidence by saying quot;It was a Good Friday for usquot; not realizing Good Friday was the day Christ was crucified. On that day 8212; April 21 at 9.30 pm 8212; the first accelerated beam of Carbon ions was delivered, which the scientist said was quot;on target.quot;

The accelerator will be used for basic research in low energy nuclear physics, nuclear astro physics, atomic, condensed matter physics and other related fields. In applied research the acclerator will be used for accelerator mass spectometry, particle induced X-ray emissions, Rutherford Back Scattering and nuclear reaction analysis among others.

Chidambaram8217;s absence ranklesThat the shadow of the Prithwish Sain affair, the scientist in the news who has alleged harassment by BARC, hovered over the function to inaugurate FOTIA was very much evident. For a start the absence of Dr R Chidambaram created ripples. The official reason was given out to be that the Atomic Energy Commission chief was stuck with a meeting in Delhi, but whispers over tea had several scientists discussing among themselves that the absence was calculated to avoid uncomfortable questions from the media. A message was instead read out by Dr S S Kapur, director, physics.

All the speakers seemed to be obsessed with the idea that the accelerator success story was due to the unity of BARC scientists and the quot;unique work culturequot; in the nation8217;s premier atomic research institution. Both Dr Kapoor and Dr B K Jain, head, Nuclear Physics Division, harped on the quality of scientific research and harmony between the different working streams in the department. Much was made of the fact that 16 departments of the BARC were involved in the production of the accelerator. The theme was the quot;networking of different disciplines and skillsquot; 8212; as if that was the answer to Sain8217;s charge that everything gets done in BARC except science.

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It was Dr Anil Kakodkar who put the atmosphere in perspective by commenting that it was necessary to ignore quot;irresponsible utterances of some who have never worked nor understand science.quot; Declared Kakodkar: quot;BARC is a place of creative scientists building high technological strength for the country.quot;