The PERLE project (Powerful Energy Recovery Linac for Experiments), led by IJCLab and the Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC), reached a major milestone on 11 May 2026. Its photogun, a high-intensity electron source, produced a current of 2.5 milliamps as soon as it was switched on. This performance already exceeds a tenth of the final target intensity. It rewards several years of work on a technology that is both powerful and more sustainable. Cover photo: the beam, by Maud Baylac.
View of the PERLE installation inside IJCLab's "igloo". © Luc Petizon/IJCLab
PERLE aims to demonstrate the feasibility of an accelerator capable of recovering particle energy. This demonstrator, currently being assembled at IJCLab, is supported by the European programme ISAS (Innovate for Sustainable Accelerating Systems). The photogun also breaks new ground by replacing a gas with a high greenhouse effect with nitrogen.
Find out more about this breakthrough and its prospects for the accelerators of tomorrow in this article from the CNRS Nucléaire et Particules institute!