Novel and advanced particle accelerators

Particle accelerators are best known for their uses in high-energy physics in places like CERN; however, there are tens of thousands of particle accelerators all around us. Small-scale accelerators are used in applications like treating cancer, scanning cargo at ports, cross-linking polymers, colouring gemstones and curing paints and composites, whereas larger-scale accelerators generate intense X-ray or neutron beams to enable pharmaceutical, chemical, archaeological, biological and solid-state physics research or analysis [1]. In the past decade, there has been renewed interest in new accelerator technologies that can reduce the size or increase the performance of particle accelerators, opening up new avenues of research by making large facilities to fit in a university laboratory, performing higher resolution scans or improving cancer treatment. In this chapter, we will explore three technologies capable of delivering a step change in accelerator design: new superconducting materials and structures, higher frequency particle accelerators, and plasma-based particle accelerators.