Due to its simplicity the classical cyclotron has been used very early for applications in sciency, medicine and industry. Higher energies and intensities were achieved through the concepts of the sector focused isochronous cyclotron and the synchro-cyclotron. Besides those the fixed field alternating gradient accelerator (FFA) represents the most general concept among these types of fixed field accelerators, and the latter one is actively studied and developed for future applications.
This whitepaper summarizes and the state of the field of high-power cyclotrons and FFAs as discussed by international experts during a three-day workshop of the same name. The workshop was held online from Sep 7 to Sep 9, 2021 as part of the US Snowmass'21 Community Exercise, specifically the Accelerator Frontier (AF) and the subpanel Accelerators for Neutrinos (AF02). Thus, we put emphasis on the application of high-power cyclotrons in particle physics, specifically neutrino physics, and as drivers for muon production. In the introduction, we discuss the role of cyclotrons for particle physic…
Orbital period in a ring accelerator and time of flight in a linear accelerator depend on the amplitude of betatron oscillations. The variation is negligible in ordinary particle accelerators with relatively small beam emittance. In an accelerator for large emittance beams like muons and unstable nuclei, however, this effect cannot be ignored. We measured orbital period in a linear non-scaling fixed field alternating gradient (FFAG) accelerator, which is a candidate for muon acceleration, and compared with the theoretical prediction. The good agreement between them gives important ground for t…
A novel scaling type of Fixed-Field Alternating-Gradient (FFAG) accelerator is proposed that solves the major problems of conventional scaling FFAGs. This scaling FFAG accelerator combines reverse bending magnets of the radial sector type and a spiral edge angle of the spiral sector type to ensure sufficient vertical focusing without relying on extreme values of either parameter. This new concept makes it possible to design a scaling FFAG for high energy (above GeV range) applications such as a proton driver for a spallation neutron source and an accelerator driven subcritical reactor.
In this paper we describe the methods and tools used to characterize a 150 MeV proton scaling Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFAG) accelerator at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute. Many of the techniques used are unique to this class of machine and are thus of relevance to any future FFAG accelerator. For the first time we detail systematic studies undertaken to improve the beam quality of the FFAG. The control of beam quality in this manner is crucial to demonstrating high power operation of FFAG accelerators in future.
The usage of numerical models to study the evolution of particle beams is an essential step in the design process of particle accelerators However, uncertainties of input quantities such as beam energy and magnetic field lead to simulation results that do not fully agree with measurements, hence the final machine will behave slightly differently than the simulations In case of cyclotrons such discrepancies affect the overall turn pattern or may even alter the number of turns in the machine Inaccuracies at the PSI Ring cyclotron facility that may harm the isochronism are compensated by addition…
In this paper, we investigate the stability of the particle trajectories in Fixed Field alternating gradient Accelerators (FFA) in the presence of field errors: The emphasis is on the scaling radial sector FFA type: a collaboration work is on-going in view of better understanding the properties of the 150 MeV scaling FFA at KURRI in Japan, and progress towards high intensity operation. Analysis of certain types of field imperfections revealed some interesting features about this machine that explain some of the experimental results and generalize the concept of a scaling FFA to a non-scaling o…
NORMA is a design for a normal-conducting race track fixed-field alternating-gradient accelerator (FFAG) for protons from 50 to 350 MeV. In this article we show the development from an idealised lattice to a design implemented with field maps from rigorous two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) FEM magnet modelling. We show that whilst the fields from a 2D model may reproduce the idealised field to a close approximation, adjustments must be made to the lattice to account for differences brought about by the 3D model and fringe fields and full 3D models. Implementing these lattice corr…
Vertical excursion fixed-field alternating gradient accelerators can be designed with tunes that are invariant with respect to momentum and trajectories that are scaled images of each other displaced only in the vertical direction. This is possible using guiding fields that have a vertical exponential increase, with a skew quadrupole component in the magnet body and a solenoid component at the magnet ends. Because of the coupling this introduces, orbit and optics calculations and optimisation of parameters need to be performed numerically. In this paper, idealised magnetic fields are calculate…
The concept of dielectric-laser acceleration (DLA) provides the highest gradients among breakdown-limited (nonplasma) particle accelerators and thus the potential of miniaturization. The implementation of a fully scalable electron accelerator on a microchip by twodimensional alternating phase focusing (APF), which relies on homogeneous laser fields and external magnetic focusing in the third direction, was recently proposed. In this Letter, we generalize the APF for DLA scheme to 3D, such that stable beam transport and acceleration is attained without any external equipment, while the structur…
Beam stripping losses of H- ion beams by interactions with residual gas and electromagnetic fields are evaluated. These processes play an important role in compact cyclotrons where the beam is produced on an internal ion source, and they operate under high magnetic field. The implementation of stripping interactions into the beam dynamics code OPAL provides an adequate framework to estimate the stripping losses for compact cyclotrons such as AMIT. The analysis is focused on optimizing the high energy beam current delivered to the target. The optimization is performed by adjusting parameters of…
This paper reports on the conclusions of a 2013 Joint DOE/NCI Workshop, and translates clinical accelerator facility requirements into accelerator and beam-delivery technical specifications. Available or feasible accelerator technologies are compared, including a new concept for a compact, CW, and variable energy light ion accelerator currently under development. This new light ion accelerator is based on advances in non-scaling Fixed-Field Alternating gradient (FFAG) accelerator design. The new design concepts combine isochronous orbits with long (up to 4m) straight sections in a compact race…
In this paper, a novel concept combining a fixed field alternating gradient accelerator with time-varying quadrupoles is presented which solves some of the major problems of conventional fixed field accelerators. This concept combines a stable racetrack fixed field configuration with dispersion free straight sections to enable continuous variable energy extraction. In the long straight sections, a time-varying synchrotron-like alternating gradient focusing structure makes it possible for the first time to correct the beam optics of an FFA accelerator in order to heuristically maximize the beam…
The self-consistent problem of the wave and particle spectrum is formulated and solved for acceleration of particles in a homogeneous magnetic field that varies periodically with time. It follows from the obtained solutions that when account is taken of the synchrotron radiation, the diffusion coefficient Do of ultrarelativistic electrons does not differ from the Fermi value. An expression is obtained for the minimum concentration of the accelerated particles, at which the cyclotron instability ensures the scattering necessary for effective acceleration.
Not long after the laser was invented, it has been marked as a candidate source of strong, high-frequency electromagnetic radiation for acceleration of particles. Indeed, while the complex particle accelerator facilities today are an astonishing culmination of decades of work contributed by generations of physicists, engineers, and a host of scientists, new trends and acceleration technologies have been recently proposed and demonstrated. One of these technologies involves the miniaturization of particle accelerators, which is achieved by replacing the radio-frequency electromagnetic fields ac…
The determination of relative stopping power (RSP) via proton computed tomography (pCT) of a patient is dependent in part on the knowledge of the incoming proton kinetic energies; the uncertainty in these energies is in turn determined by the proton source -- typically a cyclotron. Here we show that reducing the incident proton beam energy spread may significantly improve RSP determination in pCT. We demonstrate that the reduction of beam energy spread from the typical 1.0% (at 70MeV) down to 0.2%, can be achieved at the proton currents needed for imaging at the Paul Scherrer Institut 230MeV c…
This paper presents a simulation study of a permanent magnet electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) with a minimum-B quadrupole magnetic field topology. The magnetic field is made to conform to conventional ECRIS with $B_\textrm{min}/B_\textrm{ECR}$ of 0.67 and a last closed magnetic isosurface of 1.86$B_\textrm{ECR}$ at 10 GHz. The distribution of magnetic field gradients parallel to the field, affecting the electron heating efficiency, cover a range from 0 to 13 T/m, being similar to conventional ECRIS. Therefore it is expected that the novel ion source produces warm electrons and h…
The concept of Dielectric Laser Acceleration (DLA) provides highest gradients among non-plasma particle accelerators. However, stable beam transport and staging have not been shown experimentally yet. We present a scheme that confines the beam longitudinally and in one transverse direction. Confinement in the other direction is obtained by a single conventional quadrupole magnet. Within the small aperture of 420 nm we find the matched distributions, which allow an optimized injection into pure transport, bunching, and accelerating structures. The combination of these resembles the photonics an…
The single stretched-wire method is commonly used to measure the magnetic field strength and magnetic axis in an accelerator magnet. The integrated voltage at the connection terminals of the wire is a measure for the flux linked with the surface traced out by the displaced wire. The stretched wire can also be excited with an alternating current well below the resonance frequency. It is thus possible to measure multipole field errors by making use of the linear relationship between the wire-oscillation amplitude, integrated field, and current amplitude. This technique is a good example for solv…
The problem of simulating the interaction of spacecraft travelling at velocities necessary for starflight with the interplanetary and interstellar medium is considered. Interaction of protons, atoms, and ions at kinetic energies relative to the spacecraft (MeV per nucleon) is essentially a problem of sputtering. More problematic is the impact of dust grains, macroscopic objects on the order of 10 nm ($10^{-21}$ kg) to 1 $μ$m ($10^{-15}$ kg), the effects of which are difficult to calculate, and thus experiments are needed. The maximum velocity of dust grains that can be achieved at present in t…
Design of a Storage Ring based on a Fixed Field Alternating Gradient Configuration with an Internal Target for Heavy-Ion Beams with Stochastic Charge State Conversions
Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science, Kyoto University（京都大学辐射核科学综合研究所）；Advanced Science Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency（日本原子能研究机构先进科学研究中心）
