I am a layman who ends up attending a number of research conferences with experts in their field. I do my best to understand but I’m always starting at level 0.
These last few years I’ve heard researchers from TRIUMF and Oak Ridge, among others, talk about transmission of beams and seeing diagrams of the paths their beams transverse. Sometimes, like the particle accelerator at RAON, the path is straight but has a 90′ turn. And sometimes the path is curved and seems to have a number of things the beam is bounced off of.
I’ve also seen some lasers which seem to have the laser beam bounce all over the place. No straight line, no gentle curve, but what is probably 45′ angles and many many of them.
Are these steps (turns?) because they need to modify the beam? Are they adding or subtracting something from the beams? Are the beams getting more focused? Wouldn’t a straight line be easier to control and focus as opposed to adding turns and curves?
In: Physics
Laser beams and particle accelerators are two very different technologies. A particle accelerator is usually a giant circle shape where you can run your particle around and around, all the while accelerating it, to get it moving insanely fast.
With lasers and other optical systems, a lot of the path the laser follows is just “cable management”. You need to get your laser from one piece of equipment to another, so you use mirrors to bounce it. It’s kinda like asking why do the water pipes in our houses make so many turns. Plumbers just run the pipes in a way where they all fit together and get the water where it needs to go. Same thing with the light in an optical system.
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