"Accelerators and Beams" – 
A Multimedia Training Tutorial*

Richard R. Silbar, Andrew A. Browman, William C. Mead, and Robert A. Williams
WhistleSoft, Inc., 168 Dos Brazos, Los Alamos, NM 87544
E-Mail: silbar@whistlesoft.com, URL: www.whistlesoft.com/~silbar

WhistleSoft is creating a computer-based tutorial for charged-particle beam optics.  Accelerators 
and Beams is an appropriate vehicle for self-paced training of accelerator technicians and 
operators.  Its modules are available for Macintosh and Windows platforms.  We use multimedia 
techniques to enhance the user's rate of learning and retention of the material.  We have spent 
much time in testing and refining the user interface.  The tutorial features interactive On-Screen 
Laboratories™ and uses hypertext, colored graphics, three-dimensional animation, video, and 
sound.  

At present, three modules – Vectors, Forces, and Motion in Electromagnetic Fields – are (or will 
be) available for purchase from Physics Academic Software.  Two other modules – Bending and 
Focusing and Properties of Particle Beams -- are available in prototype form.  We can also 
provide customized versions of this training software for particular laboratory purposes.  We will 
be showing these modules on a laptop computer during the poster session. 

*Work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under a Phase II SBIR grant.


 


Figure 1: A page (without its colors) from Motion in Electromagnetic Fields.