November 10, 2014
Тhe meeting of CANDLE institute Board of Trustees headed by the Honorary President of the Board, RA President Serzh Sargsyan took place on 10th November 2014. Board members and guests got acquainted with the status of the CANDLE project first phase – AREAL laser driven linear accelerator. AREAL – Advanced Research Electron Accelerator Laboratory – is a linear accelerator with a laser driven RF gun, which produces ultrashort relativistic electron beams for advanced research in accelerator technologies, coherent radiation sources and dynamics of ultrafast processes
The first beam of AREAL accelerator was obtained on 20th December 2013. In May 2014 commissioning of major systems of the accelerator was completed, and the design parameters of the accelerator have been achieved. The results were presented at international conferences, Yerevan Physics Institute and National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. The AREAL facility opening ceremony was held on 22nd July 2014.
In October 2014 the works of the creation of DELTA laboratory with two experimental stations on bio-medical research and microtechnology were completed. The stations are equoed by the laser scanning two-photon microscope and the microfabrication module respectively. Since December 2014 research groups from Yerevan State University, State Engineering University of Armenia, Institute of Molecular Biology of NAS RA, Yerevan Physics Institute and CANDLE will start their experimental program using electron and photon beams. The studies cover contemporary issues in the fields of molecular physics, materials science, microelectronics, biophysics, biomedicine and new accelerator technologies.
“I believe that completion of AREAL accelerator is not only the success of the CANDLE institute staff, but also the success and new opportunities for the entire scientific community in Armenia” – said president Sargsyan in his interview to “Armenpress” agency. “I congratulate the CANDLE staff with this remarcable achievement. Actually I must note, that the publication of scientific articles of Armenian scientists in renowned international journals, and links to the international scientific community on these works in recent years, as well as the start-up of AREAL accelerator indicate that a great scientific potential exists in Armenia, and this potential needs to be developed. It is very important that the accelerator was launched in collaboration with international renowned organizations. And I am convinced that this process is claimed, it creates an opportunity for scientists, primarily for young scientists to effectively pursue their scientific career”.