Physicists at CERN have achieved a world first that could help unlock mysteries lying beyond our current understanding of particle physics.
In a new proof-of-principle experiment called TWOCRYST, researchers successfully demonstrated “double crystal channeling,” a technique that could one day allow scientists to measure the properties of extremely short-lived particles in unprecedented detail.
The Standard Model of particle physics has been remarkably successful in describing how the building blocks of matter behave.
But it leaves many big questions unanswered, including the nature of dark matter, why matter dominates over antimatter, and whether hidden particles or forces exist.
To look for clues, physicists often study known particles to extreme precision, searching for tiny discrepancies between theory and experiment that could point to new physics.
Among the particles of interest are charm baryons, such as the Λc+ (Lambda-c-plus). These particles are similar to protons but heavier, containing three quarks: one up, one down, and one charm.
They are notoriously difficult to study because they decay in less than a trillionth of a second. Measuring their properties, such as magnetic and electric dipole moments, could reveal subtle effects of new physics.
But traditional methods, like using strong magnetic fields to bend their paths, don’t work on such short timescales.
That’s where bent crystals come in. Inside a crystal, atoms are arranged in neat, repeating patterns that form tiny channels.
When a crystal is bent, it can act like a microscopic racetrack, steering charged particles along a curved path. This allows researchers to bend particles much more strongly over a very short distance than conventional equipment can achieve.
The TWOCRYST experiment, installed at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) after just two years of preparation, set out to test whether two bent silicon crystals could be used in sequence.
The first crystal, placed near the LHC’s proton beam, redirected stray protons away from the beam core. These protons can then strike a tungsten target to create charm baryons.
A second bent crystal would then steer the resulting particles enough to allow their properties to be measured with specialized detectors.
In June 2025, the team carried out the first tests at an energy of 450 GeV. The results were striking: after carefully aligning both crystals, they successfully observed particles being steered by not just one, but both crystals in succession—achieving the first-ever double channeling at the highest energies ever attempted.
While this initial set-up was simplified and did not yet include all the target components, the success shows that the concept works.
The team will next perform tests at higher energies of several TeV, where more detailed studies could be possible.
Whether or not enough charm baryons can be collected to justify a full experiment remains to be seen.
But already, TWOCRYST has opened an exciting new chapter for crystal technology at the LHC, and may help pave the way toward uncovering physics beyond the Standard Model.
