The LAT provides access to a 6 MV Pelletron Tandem accelerator as well as a 1.7 MV Tendetron accelerator. The tandem mode means that the ions are accelerated twice by the terminal voltage, doubling the ion energy. Negative ions are generated by the source, then injected into the terminal (beige tank on the picture). They are then first accelerated by the positive potential of the terminal. When they pass through the center of the accelerator, a stripper gas makes them lose electrons. They thus become positive ions, are pushed back by the positive potential and will accelerate another time, their energy being able to reach several MeV. They are then directed towards the chosen beam line. 

The Pelletron Tandem accelerator is actually the first prototype of a Tandem accelerator in the world. Installed initially at Chalk River Laboratories in 1954, it was transferred to U. Montreal in 1966. A new source and a new charge system were installed in 2002.

MIL accelerator?

 More information about the beam facilities at UdeM can be found here.

The accelerator facility is able to produce protons, neutrons as well as a multitude of ion beams. The beams are available for the local Physics Department, but also open for external clients sin the beam time if not fully booked by our researchers. The neutron beam line is equipped with an NMR magnet analyzer system providing mono-energetic neutrons via (p, n) reactions with keV energy resolution. A low energy neutron spectrometer is presently installed and used by PICO and SuperCDMS dark matter experiments at a dedicated beam line which allows unique, high precision calibrations of dark matter experiments by tagging mono-energetic nuclear recoils.