Draft:Achim Weidemann

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Achim Weidemann

Achim W. Weidemann (died December 2022) was a German-American physicist and engineer who made significant contributions to the fields of experimental high-energy physics and radiation instrumentation. He held research and academic positions at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Tennessee, and the University of South Carolina. Over his career, he participated in several major particle physics experiments and authored or co-authored over 70 scientific publications.

Early Life and Education

Weidemann earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park. He also held a Diplom-Physiker degree from the University of Karlsruhe (TH) in Germany (now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - KIT).

Career

University Affiliations

From 1987 to 2004, Weidemann was affiliated with the University of Tennessee and the University of South Carolina. During this time, he was stationed at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, where he led the University of Tennessee group. He was instrumental in acquiring new experimental collaborations for the group and integrating university-built silicon detectors into high-energy physics experiments.

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Beyond

Weidemann came to SLAC in 1984 and remained affiliated in various roles, including as Engineering Physicist (2005–2013), consultant (2017), and affiliated visitor until his passing in 2022. He contributed to experiments including SLD at the SLC, BaBar at PEP-II, E-144, E-150, E-166, and T-423. He was deeply involved in the design and testing of accelerator components, vibration studies for ILC and detector support structures, RF and electrical safety planning, and construction of the FACET facility.

From 2005 to 2009, he worked in SLAC’s Magnetic Measurement group, where he tuned undulators for LCLS and performed magnetic measurements for accelerator systems. From 2009 to 2013, he worked on background modeling for SuperB and supported the ILC vibration and safety studies.

He also contributed to KamLand during a 2000 research stay in Sendai, Japan, helping refurbish photomultiplier tubes.

Industry and Consulting

Between 2014 and 2016, Weidemann worked at Lyncean Technologies, a company developing Compact Light Sources, one of which was installed at the Center for Advanced Laser Applications in Garching, Germany. He supported commissioning, control systems, and user interface training. He also consulted for Spectel and FarTech, Inc., where he led DOE SBIR projects involving beam diagnostics, including a quadrupole cavity installed at SLAC’s NLCTA beamline.

From before March 2019 until his passing in December 2022, Weidemann was a researcher with TibaRay Inc., a company developing novel medical accelerators and RF devices for advanced cancer therapy.

Research and Publications

Weidemann’s work spanned collider detector instrumentation, plasma lens experiments, positron source development, and beam diagnostics. He co-authored publications in Physical Review Letters, Nuclear Instruments and Methods, and IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science. His contributions to the physics of polarized positrons were widely cited.

Selected publications include:

• \"Observation of Polarized Positrons from an Undulator-Based Source\" (Phys. Rev. Lett., 2008)
• \"Undulator-Based Production of Polarized Positrons\" (Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A, 2009)
• \"Using Geant4 in the BaBar Simulation\" (CHEP 2003)
• \"Depolarization in e+e− and e−e− Collisions\" (Int. J. Mod. Phys. A, 2000)

Conference Participation

Weidemann presented research at major conferences including:

• Fifth Rencontres du Vietnam (2004), Hanoi
• ICHEP 2004, Beijing
• American Linear Collider Workshops (2003, Cornell)
• DPF Meeting (2002), Williamsburg
• Rencontres du Vietnam (2000)
• Electron-Electron Interactions at TeV Energies (UC Santa Cruz, 2001, 2003)

Teaching and Outreach

Weidemann taught physics and numerical analysis at De Anza College, University of Maryland University College, U.S. Naval Academy, and the University of Karlsruhe. In 2018, he returned to De Anza as an adjunct instructor. He also served as visiting lecturer at Saigon’s Faculty of Science and promoted collaboration with Vietnamese physicists and students.

Skills and Languages

He was fluent in English, French, and German, and had working knowledge of Japanese, Vietnamese, and Russian. He was proficient in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Perl, and LabView. He reviewed articles for journals such as Review of Scientific Instruments and Foundations of Physics.

Legacy

Dr. Achim Weidemann is remembered as a hands-on physicist whose contributions advanced many facets of experimental particle physics. His multidisciplinary work helped bridge theory and engineering in collider, detector, and accelerator innovation.

External Links

• SLAC Homepage (Archived)
• ResearchGate Profile
• E-166 Experiment Website