Paul Scherrer Institut achieves first positron production for Future Circular Collider

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) in Switzerland have successfully produced the first positrons using a test source designed for the Future Circular Collider (FCC) project. This achievement marks a significant milestone in demonstrating the feasibility of the positron source required for the next generation of particle accelerators.

The FCC is a proposed 91-kilometer-long particle accelerator intended to succeed the Large Hadron Collider in the 2040s. It would be located in a tunnel beneath the French-Swiss border region near CERN. A primary technical challenge for the project is generating a sufficient number of positrons and efficiently bundling them into a beam to collide with electrons.

The test was conducted using a prototype installed at the SwissFEL free-electron laser. The process involves accelerated electrons hitting a tungsten target to create a positron shower, which is then captured and shaped into a focused beam using powerful magnetic fields, including high-temperature superconducting magnets.