LBNL Engineering Division

Meet the Berkeley Lab engineering team working on the upgrade for the ATLAS experiment at CERN. Mechanical engineering associate Thomas Johnson helped build the original detector and is now working on the upgrade. Find out what it’s like to be part of team science and contribute to one of the largest and most powerful particle detectors in the world!

Berkeley Lab engineers helped build ATLAS, one of the largest and most powerful particle detectors in the world, and now they’re working on the next-gen upgrade. Meet engineers Todd Claybaugh, Neal Hartman, and Eric Anderssen, and hear what it’s like to be part of team science and play a role in the collaboration bringing science to life.

How can tiny robots measure entire galaxies? Assembled using specialized tooling, see how Berkeley Lab engineers created Iris, a prototype for mapping the primordial universe. Mechanical Engineer Nick Wenner highlights a key component of Spec-S5, breaking Iris down to its smallest parts, from its miniature motors to its even smaller ball bearings.

Take a tour through the Advanced Light Source tunnel—a place that is rarely exposed to view. The tunnel is where electrons travel at the speed of light during normal ALS operations. Here, it is shown open for maintenance activities and the installation of the new Accumulator Ring! The Engineering Division’s Kyle McCombs provides a look into this major ALS upgrade.