
IJCLab had the honour of welcoming Philippe Baptiste, Minister of Higher Education and Research, on Tuesday, 28th January 2025. This visit was part of a broader visit to the Université Paris-Saclay. (From left to right on the picture: Camille Galap, President of Université Paris-Saclay and Philippe Baptiste, Minister of Higher Education and Research. Photo credit: Dominique Longieras/IJCLab)
Accompanied by Camille Galap, President of Université Paris-Saclay, Mehran Mostafavi, Vice-President for Research, and Achille Stocchi, Director of IJCLab, the Minister learned more about two of the laboratory's major scientific infrastructures.
The first one, the ALTO facility, is a unique platform in France that combines two complementary accelerators: a 15 MV Tandem electrostatic accelerator and a linear electron accelerator. Operating continuously and hosting over 250 researchers annually, this facility stands out for its unique worldwide capability to produce low-energy neutron-rich beams through uranium photofission. The minister was able to appreciate the explanations about experiments using beams produced by photofission and the new shared line for SPACE-ALTO and BioALTO.
ALTO facility tour guided by Enrique Minaya Ramirez (Scientific Coordinator) Philippe Baptiste and Camille Galap, accompanied by the IJCLab directorate. Photo credit: Dominique Longieras/IJCLab
The second one, the SUPRATECH platform, is dedicated to R&D on superconducting cavities for future particle accelerators. Equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for the preparation, conditioning and testing of superconducting RF cavities, it plays a crucial role in developing innovative high-performance acceleration technologies.
Presentation of the SUPRATECH platform by Nicolas Gandolfo (Technical Manager) in the presence of Philippe Baptiste, Camille Galap, and the IJCLab directorate. Photo credit: Dominique Longieras/IJCLab
During this two-hour visit, Philippe Baptiste demonstrated keen interest and extensive knowledge of our laboratory’s activities.