Beams Department Mandate

The CERN Beams (BE) Department is responsible for the conception, design, survey, alignment, control and operation of all CERN accelerators, technical infrastructure, accelerator test facilities, secondary beam lines and experimental areas. It maintains world-class expertise and state-of-the-art knowledge in the associated specialized fields, including particle beam dynamics, particle simulation codes, novel acceleration techniques, precise timing, robotics, mechatronics, and geodetic metrology. The BE Department conducts pioneering research and development in these areas, in close collaboration with European and international partners, to continuously improve the CERN accelerator and experimental-area complexes and to meet the requirements of future upgrades and projects. The BE Department also provides CERN with powerful accelerator and industrial controls systems, frameworks and tools as well as the facilities for radiation testing and electronics design and production. The BE Department is fully committed to the safety, environmental sustainability, and long-term viability of its activities and to training and developing the next generation of physicist, engineers and technicians in its domains of expertise.

Beams (BE) Department Mission Statement (2026–2030)

As the BE Department, our mission over the next five years is to empower CERN’s future by achieving operational excellence in beam accelerator operations, through the continued modernization of the accelerator complex and the development of the advanced tools required to meet future challenges.

  • Unifying efforts to execute the BE contribution to LS3 in a timely manner, carrying out system upgrades for the development of accelerator and experimental facility control systems and delivering the HL-LHC work packages.
  • Actively contributing to the North Area Consolidation Project (NA-CONS) and other on-going maintenance and consolidation projects and studies.
  • Flawless execution of the injector chain restart, shortly followed by the LHC. Starting with individual system tests, in collaboration with equipment groups, followed by hardware commissioning and beam commissioning to ensure the required HL-LHC beam parameters are delivered to all experimental facilities.
  • Designing the future through contributions to studies and projects and consequently assuring the longer-term future of the laboratory’s excellence.
  • Driving operational efficiency and sustainability through coordinated sector-wide automation strategies leveraging state of the art technologies.
  • Developing close collaborations across CERN-wide departments, academic institutes and industrial partners acknowledging that our true strength stems from the combined knowledge.