VIEW OF FERMI LAB'S MAIN ACCELERATOR TUNNEL, SHOWING ORIGINAL RING (ABOVE) AND TEVATRON'S SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETS (BELOW).

THE PRINCIPAL INSTRUMENT AT FERMI LAB--THE TEVATRON IS A SYSTEM OF FIVE ACCELERATORS WORKING IN SEQUENCE TO ACCELERATE PROTONS TO ONE TRILLION ELECTRON VOLTS (TEV) FOR HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS RESEARCH. THE FIFTH ACCELERATOR (LOWER BOXES IN PHOTOGRAPH) IS A RING OF 1,000 SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETS, WITH COILS OF NIOBIUM AND TITANIUM. WHEN COOLED TO TEMPERATURES CLOSE TO ABSOLUTE ZERO, SUCH MATERIALS LOSE THEIR RESISTANCE TO ELECTRICITY AND SHARPLY REDUCE POWER DEMANDS. BECAUSE OF ITS ENERGY-MISERLY FEATURES, THIS ACCELERATOR HAS BEEN DUBBED THE "ENERGY DOUBLER /SAVER." IN THE FIRST PHASE OF THE TEVATRON PROGRAM, THE ACCELERATED PROTONS WERE USED IN COLLIDING-BEAM STUDIES. IN THE SECOND PHASE (TEVATRON II), PARTICLES EXTRACTED FROM THE ACCELERATORS WILL BE USED FOR FIXED-TARGET EXPERIMENTS. THE TEVATRON PROGRAM WILL ENABLE SCIENTISTS TO PROBE MORE DEEPLY INTO THE SUBATOMIC WORLD OF PARTICLE PHYSICS.