Positron–Electron Tandem Ring Accelerator
PETRA III Max von Laue hall at the DESY campus in Hamburg. | |
| General properties | |
|---|---|
| Accelerator type | Synchrotron light source |
| Beam type | electrons |
| Target type | Light source |
| Beam properties | |
| Maximum energy | 6 GeV |
| Maximum brightness | 1021 ph./(s mm2 mrad2 0.1% BW) |
| Physical properties | |
| Circumference | 2.304 kilometres (1.432 mi) |
| Location | Hamburg, Germany |
| Coordinates | 53°34′45″N 9°53′01″E / 53.579049°N 9.88370°E |
| Institution | DESY |
| Dates of operation | 2009–present |
| Preceded by | PETRA II |
The Positron–Electron Tandem Ring Accelerator (PETRA) is one of the particle accelerators at the German national laboratory DESY in Hamburg, Germany. At the time of its construction, it was the biggest storage ring of its kind and still is DESY's second largest synchrotron after HERA. PETRA's original purpose was research in elementary particle physics. From 1978 to 1986, it was used to study electron–positron collisions with the four experiments JADE, MARK-J, PLUTO and TASSO. The discovery of the gluon, the carrier particle of the strong nuclear force, by the TASSO collaboration in 1979 is counted as one of the biggest successes. PETRA was able to accelerate electrons and positrons to 19 GeV.
Research at PETRA led to an intensified international use of the facilities at DESY. Scientists from China, France, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the USA participated in the first experiments at PETRA alongside many German colleagues.