Projects

LCLS-II

Funded by the DOE, the Linear Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is the world’s first hard X-ray free-electron laser. Its strobe-like pulses are just a few millionths of a billionth of a second long, and a billion times brighter than previous X-ray sources. Scientists use LCLS to take crisp pictures of atomic motions, watch chemical reactions unfold, probe the properties of materials and explore fundamental processes in living things. LCLS-II builds from the success of LCLS to ensure that the U.S. maintains a world-leading capability for advanced research in energy, materials, biology and chemistry. LCLS-II will provide a major jump in capability – moving from 120 pulses per second to 1 million pulses per second. This will enable researchers to perform experiments in a wide range of fields that are now impossible. It will be a shining example of cooperation and collaboration between our two labs (Fermilab and Jefferson Lab) as the goal is to utilize expertise at both labs and to build identical cryomodules at each facility. At Fermilab, the project design work is ongoing with production of the first cryomodule scheduled for early FY16.

LBNF/DUNE

The proposed Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) would use Fermilab’s particle accelerators to create neutrinos and send them through the earth to a new, large, cutting-edge neutrino detector at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. The neutrinos would travel the 800 miles from Illinois to South Dakota straight through the earth—no tunnel is needed for these particles. The particle detector at Sanford Lab would record neutrinos and measure their oscillation properties. With the data, scientists aim to discover whether neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate differently. They would also be able to determine which type of neutrino is the lightest and which is the heaviest. This information would help reveal the exact role that neutrinos play in the universe.

PIP-II

Fermilab's Proton Improvement Plan II (PIP-II) will enable the world's most intense neutrino beam and help scientists search for rare particle physics processes. These investigations will require intense beams of protons, which will produce gushers of other neutrinos that scientists can then study in greater detail. The increased beam power will position Fermilab as the leading laboratory in the world for accelerator-based neutrino experiments. The heart of PIP-II is a 800-MeV superconducting linear accelerator, which capitalizes on the lab's expertise in superconducting radio-frequency technologies. PIP-II is planned to deliver into the early part of the next decade.

Mu2e

In recent years, particle physicists have increasingly turned their attention to finding physics beyond the Standard Model. Discoveries will help scientists answer some of the most fundamental questions about matter and our universe. Were the forces of nature combined in one unifying force at the time of the Big Bang? How did the universe change from being dominated by energy and radiation remnants from the Big Bang to the one we see today with visible matter, including people and plants? Mu2e directly probes the Intensity Frontier as well as aid research on the Energy and Cosmic frontiers with precision measurements required to characterize the properties and interactions of new particles discovered at the Intensity Frontier. Observing muon-to-electron conversion will remove a hurdle to understanding why particles in the same category, or family, decay from heavy to lighter, more stable mass states. Physicists have searched for this since the 1940s. Discovering this is central to understanding what physics lies beyond the Standard Model.

Muon g-2

Muon g-2 will use Fermilab's powerful accelerators to explore the interactions of short-lived particles known as muons with a strong magnetic field in "empty" space. Scientists know that even in a vacuum, space is never empty. Instead, it is filled with an invisible sea of virtual particles that –in accordance with the laws of quantum physics– pop in and out of existence for incredibly short moments of time. Scientists can test the presence and nature of these virtual particles with particle beams traveling in a magnetic field. The Muon g-2 experimenters will examine the precession of muons that are subjected to a magnetic field. The main goal is to test the Standard Model's predictions of this value by measuring the precession rate experimentally to a precision of 0.14 parts per million.

LHC CMS Detector Upgrade

A Department of Energy/Office of Science (DOE/SC) review of the LHC CMS Detector Upgrade project was conducted at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) on August 26-27, 2013. The Committee recommended that the upgrade project proceed after addressing the review recommendations and emphasized that the project team should continue to maintain close communications with the collaboration members and CERN to ensure that all interdependent activities proceed as planned. The Committee also noted that the replacement of the present photo-sensors with Silicon photo-multipliers (SiPMs) will allow increased granularity for the Hadron Calorimeter (HCAL) readout of the The Barrel and Endcap Hadron Calorimeter (HB/HE) within the physical, optical, and services constraints in the existing detector.

SLI: Utilities Upgrade Project

The scope of this project includes design and construction of an upgraded Industrial Cooling Water System (ICW) and an upgraded High Voltage Electrical System (H/V). The scope includes replacing components at or near end of service life and upgrading the distribution networks with secondary distribution and additional controls. The project’s objective is to upgrade the laboratory’s high-voltage electrical (H/V Electrical) and the Industrial Cooling Water (ICW) distribution systems.