Nuclear Physics B Proceedings Supplement 00 (2014) 1–6
Nuclear Physics B Proceedings Supplement
The Sciences ACO Light and Matter Museum
Nicolas Arnauda,b,∗, Martine Bessona,b, Henri Borieb, Paul Brunetb, Maurice Chapellierb,c, Andr´e Damanyb, Elisabeth Dartygeb, Nicolas Deleruea,b, Pierre Dhezb, Yves Ducrosb, Marie-Pauline Gacoinb,d,e, Jacques Haissinskia,b, Bernard Jean-Mariea,b, Jack Jeanjeanb, Roland Jolivotb, Serge Julliana,b, Guyve Khalilib,f,
Jean-Michel Ortegab, Robert Riskallab, Patrick Roudeaua,b, Michel Sommerb, Christophe Sottyb,c,1, Georges Szklarza,b
aLAL, Univ Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Orsay, France
bThe Sciences ACO association, France
cCSNSM, Univ Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Orsay, France
dFondation de Coop´eration Scientifique du campus Paris-Saclay, France
eSynchrotron SOLEIL, L’Orme des Merisiers - Saint-Aubin - BP 48 - 91192 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
fLaboratoire Aim´e Cotton, CNRS/Univ. Paris-Sud/ENS-Cachan
Abstract
Sciences ACO is a non-profit association based in Orsay (France). It manages a Museum of Light and Matter visited by more than 1,000 people each year. In this unique place, scientists and cultural mediators preserve, exhibit and comment on items of the history of science & technology, to pass on the knowledge of this heritage to the audience. Sciences ACO visitors – among them many high school students and teachers – come to learn about the progress of science and the technology evolution over more than four decades. Sciences ACO is more than just a historical museum: it is a driving force for the development for outreach and pedagogical activities on the Paris-Sud University campus and in the neighboring towns. The history, the present activity and the prospects of the Sciences ACO association are presented in this article.
Keywords:
Accelerator, Collider, Education, Museum, Outreach, Storage Ring, Synchrotron light
1. Origin and history of the Sciences ACO associa-
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tion
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1.1. The LAL-LURE accelerator complex
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The Sciences ACO museum [1] is located at the cen-
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tre of the LAL-LURE accelerator complex [2], which
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was awarded the Historic Site label by the European
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Physical Society in September 2013 [3]. This site dates
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back to 1956 when the ”Laboratoire de l’Acc´el´erateur
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Lin´eaire” (LAL, today a joint unit of the CNRS/IN2P3
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∗Corresponding author
Email address:[email protected](Nicolas Arnaud)
1Now at KU Leuven in the Nuclear Spectroscopy Group.
and of the Paris-Sud University) [4] was set up in Or-
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say to build and operate a state-of-the-art linear accel-
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erator (linac). It was operated from 1959 to 2003, pro-
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viding high intensity electron and positron beams of en-
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ergy up to 2.3 GeV. In the meantime, many upgrades
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were performed to improve its performance and major
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facilities added, ranging from electron-positron collid-
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ers to synchrotron light sources. In the early 1970’s the
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”Laboratoire pour l’Utilisation du Rayonnement Elec-
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tromagn´etique” (LURE) was created in close technical
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connection to LAL to develop a wide research program
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based on synchrotron light: materials science, chem-
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istry or structural biology. Nowadays, the LURE has
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become SOLEIL [5], the French third generation syn-
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chrotron source (located nearby) while the LAL is still
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Figure 1: Access map for the Sciences ACO museum.
a major laboratory whose research activities range from
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participation in the LHC experiments to contributions to
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the Planck satellite observations.
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1.2. The ACO collider
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The ”Anneau de Collisions d’Orsay” (ACO) stored
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its first beam in 1965, two years after the observation
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at LAL of the first ever electron-positron collisions with
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the AdA collider [6]. Designed and built in Frascati un-
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der the leadership of Bruno Touschek, AdA was brought
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to Orsay in 1962 to benefit from the linac high particle
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injection rates. This pioneering work opened an entirely
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new field in accelerator science – in particular, the so-
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called Touschek effect was discovered and understood
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while AdA was running at LAL.
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ACO, whose operation ended in 1988, was first used
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as a 1100 MeV electron-positron collider. It lead to im-
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portant discoveries in accelerator physics and to many
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pioneering measurements of vector meson properties.
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In 1973, ACO became the first storage ring in Europe
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available to synchrotron light users. Ten years later, a
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free-electron laser was successfully operated at ACO –
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the second in the world, it was the first one in the visible
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bandwidth and the first at a storage ring.
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Rather than being decommissioned and disassembled
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like almost all accelerators in the world once they are
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turned off, ACO was carefully preserved by the very
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people who worked on it. In 2001, the machine was
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recognized as a French heritage monument.
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Figure 2: Aerial view of the LAL in 1981.
1.3. The Sciences ACO Light and Matter Museum
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As early as 1993, the ”Sciences ACO” association
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was created by physicists and engineers who worked on
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the storage ring. Recognized as a general interest asso-
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ciation in France in 2011, it is still very active and is now
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bringing three generations of scientists together. The as-
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sociation program is twofold: to circulate the rich ACO
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history (in particle accelerator, collider and synchrotron
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light physics) and, based on it, to shed light on today’s
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science.
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Sciences ACO operates a ”Light and Matter Mu-
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seum” – see access map in Fig. 1 – open on request
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and during special events: European heritage days, na-
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tional science festival, etc. It welcomed about 1,600 vis-
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itors in 2013 – roughly 50% students and teachers, and
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50% general public. Joint visits with the historical Sci-
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ences ACO partners LAL and SOLEIL are often orga-
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nized, since seeing real scientific and technological in-
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struments renews the visitors’ attention and makes out-
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reach conferences more concrete. In addition, Sciences
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ACO is also hosting and organizing various events, in
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particular on the theme of art & science. This not only
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widens the museum audience, but it also helps in getting
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more support from local authorities. This complements
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the Sciences ACO primary mission which is to promote
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science and make people discover it.
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Sciences ACO is more than just a museum display-
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ing unique items. Thanks to the technical skills of its
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members and to the countless hours they spend on site,
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various working instruments are also presented to the
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public. The association has its own workshop adjacent
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to the display halls. Figure 3 shows a picture of this
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workshop during the maintenance of a ”cosmic arch”,
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a device designed and built at LAL and which allows
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the public to discover the angular distribution of cosmic
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muons.
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Figure 3: Maintenance of a ”cosmic arch” in the museum workshop.
2. Permanent exhibitions
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2.1. The Pierre Marin hall
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Pierre Marin (1927-2002) was a figure of the French
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accelerator community, the ACO group leader and one
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of the founding fathers of the Science ACO association.
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After he passed away, his name was rightfully given to
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the large hall with thick concrete walls which houses the
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ACO collider – see Fig. 4. Visitors can go around the
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machine to look at its different components (injection,
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dipole and quadrupole magnets, RF cavity, vacuum sys-
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tem, interaction region, see Fig. 5) which are still part of
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today’s colliders or storage rings. In some sense, ACO
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can be considered as an ”ancestor” of the CERN LHC.
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Figure 4: The ACO collider in the Pierre Marin hall ( cClaude Men- neglier).
In addition to the ACO collider, various devices
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are on display in this exhibition room: detector orig-
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inal pieces belonging to the H1 [7] and NEMO-3 [8]
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experiments, educational experiments (cloud chamber,
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Helmholtz coils, cosmic arch, etc.) and a synchrotron
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beamline rebuilt using real historical components.
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2.2. The control room of the former LAL linear accel-
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erator
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A new room was opened in the museum in Septem-
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ber 2013 to display the control room of the former LAL
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linac. The actual exhibition, seen in Fig. 6, is not an
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exact replica of the original setup of the control room
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but uses optimally the available space to give the visi-
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tors the best experience made possible by this historical,
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scientific and technological display. This record of the
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seventies allows the Sciences ACO guides not only to
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explain how this machine was operated and what its per-
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formances were, but also to shed light on the extraordi-
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nary advances of electronics and computing since then.
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Figure 6: The LAL linac control room, on display at the Sciences ACO museum since September 2013.
Interaction region RF cavity
Vacuum system Injection
Figure 5: Schematics of the ACO ring seen from above, with its main components highlighted.
This exhibit was achieved after years of lobbying,
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first to preserve this room from disassembly and then
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to have it moved to Sciences ACO. And this project
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could not have been successful without the dedication
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of Henri Borie who has been on the front line since the
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beginning of this struggle. The association is currently
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working on producing supporting material for this new
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room: a leaflet and various multimedia resources.
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2.3. The Electron Ronde
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The Electron ronde, designed and built by the Sci-
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ences ACO association, is probably the world’s smallest
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interactive electron ring model. It includes a table-top
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10 keV electron linac in which electrons are injected
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Figure 7: The Electron ronde.
by a Minitel2 gun. The diameter of its ring, shown in
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Fig. 7, is about 50 cm and the electron trajectory is vis-
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ible thanks to the helium gas which is injected in the
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vacuum tube. Magnets of variable strengths show how
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the electromagnetic fields act on charged particles and
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how these properties are used to steer a beam in an ac-
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celerator.
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This unique equipment is requiring careful operation
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as it is a prototype whose design is still being optimized.
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Yet, it has been on display during a two-week CNRS ex-
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hibition near the Eiffel Tower in 2011 and should also be
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shown in 2015 at the famous ”Palais de la D´ecouverte”
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science museum in Paris.
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2The ”Minitel” was a French text-only online service to which end users could connect through telephone lines, using a computer termi- nal of which millions of copies were produced. This service can be seen as a precursor of the World Wide Web.
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3. Education and outreach activities
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The Sciences ACO association is involved in many
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education and outreach activities whose target ranges
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from high-school students to the general public. One
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such activity which is worth mentioning is a weekly sci-
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ence club for a dozen of local school kids which ran for
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three years in a row: it was an introduction to every-
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day physics with a different topic for each session, illus-
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trated by experiments whose results were used to under-
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stand properties of the underlying phenomena. Another
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example is a treasure hunt in the ”Valley of accelera-
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tors”, organized every year during the open day of the
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national science festival: participants are given a map of
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the Orsay campus in which open sites hosting a particle
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accelerator are highlighted. At each stage they have to
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solve an enigma or answer some questions. A Kinect-
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based computer game was also developed in association
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with the local Engineer School ”Polytech Paris-Sud [9]:
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the player’s goal is to make two particle beams collide.
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Finally, more common outreach activities are also of-
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fered by the association: public lectures, display of ed-
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ucational experiments, participation in science and so-
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ciety debates (e.g. about nuclear energy), etc. Locally,
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Sciences ACO is also one of the main driving forces of
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education projects on the campus of the future Paris-
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Saclay Higher Education Complex.
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As already mentioned above, Sciences ACO is re-
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ally focused on documenting its exhibitions. Various
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brochures are available for visitors while additional ma-
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terial can be downloaded from the website. Moreover,
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the association managed to draw technology experts’ at-
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tention to its museum: two virtual visits are currently
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being developed – see Fig. 8.
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• The first one is based on an online virtual
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world and is created by a high-school physics
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teacher from Strasbourg, Pierre Wild, and his stu-
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dents [10]. Ultimately, it could allow to simulate a
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particle injection into ACO, steered from the con-
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trol room of the linac.
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• The other uses 360-degree high resolution pictures
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on which links can be superimposed to navigate in
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the museum, open explanatory popup texts, watch
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videos, etc. This functionality [11] is provided by
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Sylvain Crouzier from the Paris-Sud University.
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4. Prospects and challenges
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Since its founding more than 20 years ago, the asso-
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ciation always had to fight against limited resources –
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both in terms of manpower and money. It benefits from
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Figure 8: Example screenshots of the Sciences ACO virtual visits.
Top: a visit included in an online virtual world; bottom: a visit based on high resolution pictures (here a view of the ACO ring from the top, using a ”mini planet” projection mode).
the support of many partners and institutions: the LAL
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and SOLEIL laboratories; the Paris-Sud University; the
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department (Essonne) and the region (Ile-de-France);
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the two neighboring cities Bures-sur-Yvette and Orsay;
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finally the CNRS/IN2P3.
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While extending the size of its exhibition and improv-
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ing the items on display, Sciences ACO is facing several
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recurring problems. First, its premises are falling into
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disuse and require extensive (and expensive!) refurbish-
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ment. Then, the facility is still classified as nuclear in-
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stallation and hence its access is strictly controlled; in
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particular, all visits must be cleared in advance. This is-
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sue may be fixed in the near future if the museum main
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piece, namely the ACO storage ring (whose decommis-
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sioning was achieved years ago) could be ”administra-
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tively decoupled” from the linac areas which are still
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radioactive (and closed to the public). Finally, Sciences
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ACO is a remote museum, located on a university cam-
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pus, which needs to be advertised again and again to
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attract local people.
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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
<25 25-35 35-45 45-55 55-65 65-75 75-85 >85
Sciences ACO membership [according to age]
Age
Figure 9: Distribution of the age of the active Sciences ACO members.
A key challenge ahead for the association is shown in
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Fig. 9: the age distribution of the association members
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is peaking above 70 years old. To strengthen the work
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done so far and continue to grow, Sciences ACO has
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to recruit new and younger members who will take over
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from the generation who worked on the storage ring and
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had the idea to turn this machine into a museum.
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5. Conclusions
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The Sciences ACO Light and Matter Museum is a
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special place to talk about the history of science and
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technology over more than four decades. Fueled by the
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enthusiasm and the energy of the members of the asso-
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ciation, it displays several rare (if not unique) museog-
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raphy elements, among which the ACO collider and the
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control room of the former LAL linac. Hundreds of peo-
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ple, from school students to the general public, visit its
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exhibitions every year and can see home-made educa-
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tional experiments, like the ”Electron Ronde”.
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All of this has been obtained by a small group of ded-
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icated individuals, within the limited financial resources
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of the association and an essential institutional support.
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In spite of its past and present achievements, Sciences
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ACO will have to find ways of renewing its membership
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in order to amplify its educational and cultural impact.
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Acknowledgment
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Sciences ACO wishes to thank its long term part-
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ners whose support is essential to the running of the
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association: the LAL and SOLEIL laboratories; the
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Paris-Sud University; the department (Essonne) and
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the region (Ile-de-France); the two neighboring cities
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Bures-sur-Yvette and Orsay; finally, the CNRS/IN2P3.
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The association would also like to thank the ”Unit´e
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d´emant`element de l’installation nucl´eaire de base 106
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(LURE)” (UDIL) for its help and support to run the Sci-
248
ences ACO museum during the past decade.
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References
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[1] Sciences ACO,http://www.sciencesaco.fr.
251
[2] P. Marin, Un demi-sicle d’acc´el´erateurs de particules, Dauphin,
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2009.
253
[3] N. Arnaud, J. Ha¨ıssinski, The LAL-LURE accelerator complex,
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a new EPS historic site, Europhysicsnews 44 (6) (2013) 4–5.
255
[4] Laboratoire de l’Acc´el´erateur Lin´eaire, http://www.lal.
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in2p3.fr.
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[5] SOLEIL Synchrotron, http://www.synchrotron-soleil.
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fr/portal/page/portal/Accueil.
259
[6] C. Bernardini, AdA:The first electron-positron col-
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lider, Phys.Perspect. 6 (2004) 156–183. doi:10.1007/
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s00016-003-0202-y.
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[7] The H1 experiment at HERA,http://h1.desy.de.
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[8] The Neutrino Ettore Majorana Observatory, http://nemo.
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in2p3.fr.
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[9] Polytech Paris-Sud, http://www.polytech.u-psud.fr/
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fr/index.html.
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[10] See for instance http://www.dailymotion.com/video/
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x1yq339_jeux-serieux-astroparticules-2014_
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school.
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[11] Visites virtuelles de l’Universit´e Paris-Sud, http:
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//www.visites-virtuelles.u-psud.fr/?s=pano42&s=
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pano111&h=32&v=0&f=90.
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