Particle accelerator
According to the Thirteenth Doctor, a particle accelerator was used to generate anti-matter by smashing atoms together to produce positrons, which were then stored inside electric and magnetic fields. (TV: The Tsuranga Conundrum)
Cytronic particle accelerators were a type of power source created by the Osirans in the shape of small pyramids. These were used to power their service robots. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)
The Fourth Doctor once stated that he would "never be cruel to an electron in a particle accelerator again". (TV: The Pirate Planet)
A particle accelerator was among the "toys" which Missy asked the Twelfth Doctor for in exchange for her assistance against the Monk invasion. (TV: The Lie of the Land)
In the early 1970s, Teri Billington of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge undertook an unofficial project in time dilation with the assistance of Liz Shaw. She designed and built a particle accelerator which Liz later disassembled to keep it from being used by the Sentinels of the New Dawn. Billington was unable to raise the funds to build a new one. (AUDIO: The Sentinels of the New Dawn)
Yasmin Khan stated that CERN had a massive particle accelerator. (TV: The Tsuranga Conundrum) The Large Hadron Collider was located at CERN, (AUDIO: Lost Souls) and was the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator, (TV: Extremis) with a circumference of twenty-seven kilometres (AUDIO: Lost Souls) of superconducting magnets, and with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way. (TV: Extremis) In 2008, the collider allowed neutron eaters to escape into N-Space and kill humans. Torchwood Three, along with some CERN staff and UNIT's Martha Jones, managed to defeat the neutron eaters and save CERN. (AUDIO: Lost Souls)
In the 67th century, the Tsuranga was equipped with an anti-matter drive, which was powered by a particle accelerator. (TV: The Tsuranga Conundrum)
Inside the accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel at close to the speed of light before they start to collide. The beams travel in opposite directions in separate beam pipes — two tubes kept at ultrahigh vacuum. They are guided around the accelerator ring by a strong magnetic field maintained by superconducting electromagnets. The electromagnets are built from coils of special electric cable that operates in a superconducting state, efficiently conducting electricity without resistance or loss of energy. This requires cooling the magnets to -271.3°C — a temperature colder than outer space. For this reason, much of the accelerator is connected to a distribution system of liquid helium, which cools the magnets, as well as to other supply services.
