About ILC @ Fermilab

Artist's impression of a particle collision inside the ILC. (Credit Sandbox Studio)

The International Linear Collider will be a necessary tool for unlocking some of the deepest mysteries about the universe. The ILC will complement CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, allowing physicists to precisely explore extremely high-energy regions. Consisting of two linear accelerators that will stretch approximately 35 kilometers in length, the ILC will smash electrons and their antimatter particles, positrons, together at nearly the speed of light. Colliding nearly 14,000 times every second, the electrons and positrons will create an array of new particles that could help answer some of the most fundamental questions of all time: What is the Higgs boson? What are dark matter and dark energy? Does supersymmetry exist?

As a part of an international collaboration that consists of about 2000 people from more than 100 universities and laboratories in over two dozen countries, Fermilab has made it their highest priority to make the ILC a reality. Research facilities around the world are collaborating to solve the technical challenges of building such a massive and complex machine. Fermilab scientists are developing designs for klystrons, damping rings, detectors and other specialized ILC components. Fermilab is also heavily involved in the research and development of the cryomodules and superconducting cavities -- the heart of the technology for the ILC.

Current ILC designs call for superconducting cavities with a gradient of 35 MV/m (megavolts per meter). Fermilab researchers are engaged in determining what combination of the three polishing techniques -- Electropolishing, Buffer Chemical Polishing and Tumbling -- should be used to build cavities with the necessary specifications. Once produced, assembling the cavities, inserting them into a cryomodule and transporting them to the ILC, no matter where it is sited, involves series of challenges that Fermilab researchers and technicians are actively engaged in tackling. A state-of-the-art clean room with a Class 10 area for cavity assembly has recently been built on site. Fermilab technicians have also overseen the transport of a cavity at vacuum from DESY and inserted it into a cryomodule. Fermilab accomplished this milestone without damaging the cavity and also provided the opportunity to test other cryomodule components developed at the lab.

Aerial view of Fermilab Accelerators, with the Main Injector under construction in back and the Tevatron in the foreground.

For more than twenty years, Fermilab’s Tevatron has long been the most powerful tool in collider research. With discoveries that include the Top quark, Bottom quark and Tau neutrino, the Tevatron serves as a research home to more than 2000 scientists, engineers and students from around the world. Even though the Tevatron will end its run later this decade, Fermilab’s renowned expertise and expansive technical infrastructure will contribute to future advancements in the field of particle physics. Regardless of where the ILC is built, Fermilab will play a major role in the development and construction of this proposed global project.