Forty years of the PS Booster

The Proton Synchrotron (PS) Booster – a key accelerator in the CERN complex – is 40 years old this month

Forty years of the PS Booster

Beam lines from Linac 1 to the Proton Synchrotron and Booster. The photo was taken in 1978, the final year that Linac 1 supplied protons to the Booster (Image: CERN)

The Proton Synchrotron Booster – a key accelerator in the CERN complex – is 40 years old this month.

The accelerator is made up of four superimposed synchrotron rings that receive beams of protons from Linac 2 at 50 MeV and accelerate them to 800 MeV for injection into the Proton Synchrotron (PS).

Before the Booster received its first beams on 26 May 1972, protons were injected directly from the Linac into the PS, where they were accelerated to 26 GeV. The low injection energy of 50 MeV limited the number of protons the PS could accept. The Booster allows the PS to accept an order of magnitude more protons, which greatly enhances the beam's utility for experiments.