Research in the domain of sub-atomic and astro-particle physics requires the construction of large and technologically complex instruments. Some projects, such as the LHC at CERN, are so large that they span several decades, and give rise to a world wide collaboration of scientists and engineers, so that the costs and the risks are shared. The scale of these experiments implies that research must be well supported by high calibre technical staff. Groups at the LPSC can provide advanced technology and engineering solutions in support of the laboratory’s activities.
Project team leaders can call upon the resources of all different services for the design, construction and operation of their required instrument. A large number of activities are covered, from design and prototyping to manufacturing and construction. Fields covered are electronics, mechanics, detector instrumentation and software. These services are completed by highly specialized groups in accelerator physics, plasma physics, ion sources, and nuclear energy technology.
New research projects are subject to a technical review so that costs and resource requirements can be estimated, and realistic time scales established. Once a project has been accepted by the scientific management it will enter a cycle of regular reviews of progress. The LPSC is a partner in many national and international projects of different scales and durations. Current projects are grouped by theme in the table on the back page, which shows the FTE (Full time equivalent) effort for each one.
Finally the laboratory has a number of support activities to ensure that research can be carried out efficiently. These are the administration and financial service, documentation and communication, computing and network infrastructure, security and radioprotection, and general infrastructure support.
Projects at the LPSC (April 2013)
