The Accelerator Division was formed as a separate division of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in 1973. Originally called Physics II Division, it acquired its present title when Andrew M. Sessler was designated Director of the Laboratory in November 1973. Under the leadership of Associate Director Edward J. Lofgren the major activities of the Division comprise operation of the Bevalac, for high-energy and heavy-ion physics, and Advanced Accelerator Research and Development. In addition, there is a small amount of research activity with heavy ions by some members of the Division. Heavy ions were first accelerated in the Bevatron in 1971. In the period under review here a large effort was devoted to construction of the Bevalac project, in which the SuperHILAC is used as a source of energetic heavy ions that are transported down the intervening hillside by a focusing transfer line, and injected into the Bevatron for final acceleration to an energy of 2.6 GeV/nucleon. This facility is unique in the world as a source of relativistic heavy ions and has opened up a new and rich field of research that has commanded worldwide interest. Joint studies with the staff of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center on a positron-electron colliding …

The Bevatron/Bevalac is operated, maintained, and continually improved as a national research facility for studies in nuclear science and in biology and medicine. Recent modifications have brought the 21-year-old synchrotron to the threshold of tremendously exciting new studies as the world's most powerful heavy-ion accelerator. In its Bevalac configuration, the machine capitalizes on the coupling of the SuperHILAC to the Bevatron via a 175-meter beam line. The SuperHILAC acts as an injector to provide the Bevatron with high-intensity beams of ions as heavy as argon. At the same time, the SuperHILAC is capable of delivering heavy-ion beams to its own group of experimenters through a computer-linked, time-share system of operation. Research efforts using the Bevalac have included a broad spectrum of nuclear science and cosmic-ray-simulation experiments, as well as intensive studies in biology and medicine aimed principally at diagnostic techniques and preclinical therapy studies for some forms of cancer.

Accelerator operations of the Bevatron/Bevalac, the SuperHILAC, and the 184-Inch Synchrocyclotron are described. The PEP storage ring is described. The superconducting accelerator (ESCAR) construction is reported, and experiments in heavy ion fusion are described. (GHT)