The John Adams Institute is building the next generation of particle accelerators—machines that smash subatomic particles together at near light speed—to keep the UK at the forefront of fundamental physics and its practical spin-offs. Accelerators are the workhorses of modern science, but current designs are reaching their limits. To probe deeper into the structure of matter, discover new particles, or create brighter X-ray beams for imaging materials and proteins, physicists need more powerful, efficient, and compact accelerators. The Institute addresses this gap by developing advanced technologies—from low-emittance electron beams for future colliders like the FCCee to plasma-wakefield acceleration, which could shrink accelerator length dramatically. If successful, this research will directly enable major upgrades to UK facilities such as Diamond Light Source and ISIS, keeping them world-class for materials science and drug discovery. It will also improve particle-beam therapy for cancer treatment, making it more precise and accessible. Beyond healthcare, industrial applications like frequency-scanning interferometry for ultra-precise distance measurement will benefit manufacturing and engineering. The programme also trains the next generation of accelerator scientists, ensuring the UK retains the expertise to build and run these complex machines.
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The John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science (JAI) is a centre of excellence for advanced accelerator science and technology. We perform R&D, deliver training, provide expertise, and generate societal benefits through advances in technologies for healthcare and industry. The JAI comprises 20 faculty, 36 staff, and 53 PhD students from the Physics Departments of Oxford University, Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL), and Imperial College London (ICL). An additional 46 staff from the UK’s national laboratories, CERN, & other institutes contribute to our research and teaching programmes. The JAI brings together a unique blend of expertise from our partner universities: particle and accelerator physics and technologies, laser and plasma physics and technologies, and expertise in radiobiology and clinical applications of particle-beam therapy. This is enhanced by links with our departments of computer science, engineering, materials, mathematics, statistics, and radiation oncology. We collaborate directly with our local STFC national laboratory facilities Diamond, ISIS and the Central Laser Facility (CLF), as well as with the Accelerator Science and Technology Centre (ASTeC) at Daresbury, enabling us both to enhance and leverage our capabilities. Our core R&D programme is founded on the expertise of our faculty and staff in beam dynamics, beam instrumentation, feedback and control, RF systems, metrology and alignment systems, lasers and plasmas, and medical beamlines. We propose to further develop our leading role in delivering the UK’s accelerator strategy in collaboration with our UK academic partners, notably the Cockcroft Institute, STFC national laboratories, CERN and our other partner overseas laboratories. We will pursue our programme around 3 main pillars of activity: R&D on forefront accelerator physics, technologies, systems, and facilities; Training of the current and next generations of accelerator scientists; Impact, including societal applications, knowledge exchange, environmental sustainability, and public engagement. Our R&D programme is focussed on: Low-emittance, high-brightness electron beams, including next-generation electron-positron colliders (FCCee, ILC, CLIC, HALHF), the Diamond Light Source (DLS) and its upgrade Diamond-2, and a future UK FEL; High-energy/high-intensity hadron beams, including current and future energy-frontier proton colliders (LHC, HL-LHC, FCChh), and ISIS and its proposed upgrade ISIS-II; Advanced acceleration techniques, including laser- and beam-driven plasma-wakefield acceleration; Particle-beam therapy applications based on electron and hadron beams; Industrial applications, including frequency-scanning interferometry-based distance measurement. Through this programme we are supporting the UK’s strategic accelerator interests by taking lead roles in enhancing both our national and overseas facilities including: LHC, HL-LHC, FCC, CLIC and AWAKE at CERN; Diamond and Diamond-2, ISIS and ISIS-II, and CLF and the Extreme Photonics Applications Centre (EPAC) at STFC/RAL; CLARA at STFC/DL; FLASHforward at DESY; and ATF/ATF2 at KEK.
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