ATPF–a dedicated proton therapy facility

A proton therapy facility based on a linac injector and a slow-cycling synchrotron is proposed. To obtain good treatments for different cancer types, both the spot scanning method and the double-scattering method are adopted in the facility, whereas the nozzles include both gantry and fixed beam types. The proton accelerator chain includes a synchrotron of 250 MeV in maximum energy, an injector of 7 MeV consisting of an RFQ and a DTL linac, with a repetition rate of 0.5 Hz. The slow extraction using the third-order resonance and together with the RFKO method is considered to be a good method to obtain a stable and more-or-less homogenous beam spill. To benefit the spot scanning method, the extraction energy can be as many as about 200 between 60 MeV and 230 MeV. A new method – the emittance balancing technique of using a solenoid or a quadrupole rotator is proposed to solve the problem of unequal emittance in the two transverse planes with a beam slowly extracted from a synchrotron. The facility has been designed to keep the potential to be upgraded to include the carbon therapy in the future.     

Physical design of scanning gantry for proton therapy facility

A proton therapy facility based on a linac injector and a slow cycling synchrotron is proposed. To achieve effective treatment of cancer, a scanning gantry is required. The flexible transmission of beam and high beam position accuracy are the most basic requirements for a gantry. The designed gantry optics and scanning system are presented. Great efforts are put into studying the sensitivity of the beam position in the isocenter to the element misalignments. It shows that quadrupole shift makes the largest contribution and special attention should be paid to it.     

BXERL photo-injector based on a 217 MHz normal conducting RF gun

The Beijing X-ray Energy Recovery Linac (BXERL) test facility is proposed in Institute of High Physics (IHEP). In this proposal, the main linac requires the injector to provide an electron beam with 5 MeV energy and 10 mA average current. An injector based on DC gun technology is the first candidate electron source for BXERL. However, the field emission in the DC gun cavity makes it much more difficult to increase the high voltage to more than 500 kV. Another technology based on a 217 MHz normal conducting RF gun is proposed as the backup injector for this test facility. We have designed this RF gun with 2D SUPERFISH code and 3D MICROWAVE STUDIO code. In this paper, we present the optimized design of the gun cavity, the gun RF parameters and the set-up of the whole injector system. The detailed beam dynamics have been done and the simulation results show that the injector can generate electron bunches with RMS normalized emittance 1.0 uppi mmcdotmrad, bunch length 0.77 mm, beam energy 5.0 MeV and energy spread 0.60%.     

Physics design for the C-ADS main linac based on two dif f erent injector design schemes

The China ADS（C-ADS） project proposes to build a 1000 MW Accelerator Driven sub-critical System around 2032. The accelerator will work in CW mode with 10 mA in beam current and 1.5 GeV in final beam energy. The linac is composed of two major sections： the injector section and the main linac section. There are two diferent schemes for the injector section. The Injector-scheme is based on a 325 MHz RFQ and superconducting spoke cavities of the same RF frequency and the Injector-scheme is based on a 162.5 MHz RFQ and superconducting HWR cavities of the same frequency. The main linac design will be diferent for diferent injector choices. The two diferent designs for the main linac have been studied according to the beam characteristics from the diferent injector schemes.     

Progress on the construction of the 100 MeV/100 kW electron linac for the NSC KIPT neutron source

IHEP, China is constructing a 100 MeV/100 kW electron Linac for NSC KIPT, Ukraine. This linac will be used as the driver of a neutron source based on a subcritical assembly. In 2012, the injector part of the accelerator was pre-installed as a testing facility in the experimental hall #2 of IHEP. The injector beam and key hardware testing results met the design goal. Recently, the injector testing facility was disassembled and all of the components for the whole accelerator have been shipped to Ukraine from China by the ocean shipping. The installation of the whole machine in KIPT will be started in June, 2013. The construction progress, the design and testing results of the injector beam and key hardware are presented.     

Study on application of independent component analysis in the CSNS/RCS

The China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) accelerators consist of a low energy H linac and a high energy proton Rapid Cycling Synchrotron (RCS). The proton beam is accumulated in the RCS and accelerated from 80MeV to 1.6GeV with a repetition of 25Hz. Independent component analysis (ICA) is a robust method for processing the collected data (samples) recorded by the turn-by-turn beam position monitor (BPM), which was recently applied to the accelerator. The samples are decomposed to source signals, or the so-called independent components, which correspond to the inherent motion of samples, such as betatron motion and synchrotron motion. A study on the application of the ICA method to CSNS/RCS has been made. It shows that the beta function, phase advance, and dispersion can be well reconstructed by using ICA in CSNS/RCS. The effects of BPM errors on the ICA results are also studied. By comparing the different solving methods in ICA, the so-called SOBI has more advantages for isolating the independent components on the application of ICA to CSNS/RCS. Beam emittance dilution in the process of exciting the turn-by-turn samples is considered,and thus an RF kicker is adopted to avoid such emittance growth.     

Error analysis and lattice improvement for the C-ADS Injector- I

The injector Scheme- 1 （or Injector- I ） of the C-ADS linac is a 10 mA 10 MeV proton linac working in C／V mode. It is mainly comprised of a 3.2 MeV room-temperature 4-vane RFQ and twelve superconducting single-spoke cavities housed in a long cryostat. Error analysis including alignment and field errors, and static and dynamic ones for the illjector are presented. Based on detailed numerical simulations, an orbit correction scheme has been designed, which shows that with correction the rms residual orbit errors can be controlled within 0.3 mm and a beam loss rate of 1.7× 10-6 is obtained. To reduce the beam loss rate further, an improved lattice design for the superconducting spoke cavity section has been studied.     

Instantaneous electron beam emittance measurement system based on the optical transition radiation principle

One kind of instantaneous electron beam emittance measurement system based on the optical transition radiation principle and double imaging optical method has been set up. It is mainly adopted in the test for the intense electron-beam produced by a linear induction accelerator. The system features two characteristics. The first one concerns the system synchronization signal triggered by the following edge of the main output waveform from a Blumlein switch. The synchronous precision of about 1 ns between the electron beam and the image capture time can be reached in this way so that the electron beam emittance at the desired time point can be obtained. The other advantage of the system is the ability to obtain the beam spot and beam divergence in one measurement so that the calculated result is the true beam emittance at that time, which can explain the electron beam condition. It provides to be a powerful beam diagnostic method for a 2.5 kA, 18.5 MeV, 90 ns （FWHM） electron beam pulse produced by Dragon I. The ability of the instantaneous measurement is about 3 ns and it can measure the beam emittance at any time point during one beam pulse. A series of beam emittances have been obtained for Dragon I. The typical beam spot is 9.0 mm （FWHM） in diameter and the corresponding beam divergence is about 10.5 mrad.     

Instantaneous electron beam emittance measurement system based on the optical transition radiation principle

One kind of instantaneous electron beam emittance measurement system based on the optical transition radiation principle and double imaging optical method has been set up. It is mainly adopted in the test for the intense electron-beam produced by a linear induction accelerator. The system features two characteristics. The first one concerns the system synchronization signal triggered by the following edge of the main output waveform from a Blumlein switch. The synchronous precision of about 1 ns between the electron beam and the image capture time can be reached in this way so that the electron beam emittance at the desired time point can be obtained. The other advantage of the system is the ability to obtain the beam spot and beam divergence in one measurement so that the calculated result is the true beam emittance at that time, which can explain the electron beam condition. It provides to be a powerful beam diagnostic method for a 2.5 kA, 18.5 MeV, 90 ns (FWHM) electron beam pulse produced by Dragon I. The ability of the instantaneous measurement is about 3 ns and it can measure the beam emittance at any time point during one beam pulse. A series of beam emittances have been obtained for Dragon I. The typical beam spot is 9.0 mm (FWHM) in diameter and the corresponding beam divergence is about 10.5 mrad.     

The design simulation of the superconducting section in the ADS injector Ⅱ

The high-current superconducting proton linac is being studied for the accelerator-driven system (ADS) project undertaken by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The injector Ⅱ will be operated at 162.5 MHz, and the proton out from the RFQ with an energy of 2.5 MeV will be accelerated to 10 MeV by two cryo-modules, which are composed of eight superconducting half wave resonance cavities and nine solenoids. In this paper, the design and beam simulation of the superconducting section of the injector Ⅱ, the acceptance calculation and a stability analysis are presented.     

Design study for a 500 MeV proton synchrotron with CSNS linac as an injector

Using the China Spallation Neutron Source(CSNS) linac as the injector, a 500 MeV proton synchrotron is proposed for multidisciplinary applications, such as biology, material science and proton therapy. The synchrotron will deliver proton beam with energy from 80 MeV to 500 MeV. A compact lattice design has been worked out, and all the important beam dynamics issues have been investigated. The 80 MeV H-beam is stripped and injected into the synchrotron by using multi-turn injection. In order to continuously extraction the proton with small beam loss,an achromatic structure is proposed and a slow extraction method with RF knock-out is adopted and optimized.     

国产首台交变相位聚焦漂移管加速器的冷测与试运行

质子直线注入器是质子治癌系统的重要组成部分。出于项目进度的考虑,上海先进质子治癌示范装置APTRON采用了进口自美国的直线注入器。为了加快质子治癌产业进程,掌握质子放疗关键技术,保证产业链安全可控,注入器团队研发了国产医用质子直线注入器。该直线注入器采用了电子回旋共振（ECR）离子源和四翼型射频四极加速器（RFQ）的技术方案,并在漂移管加速器（DTL）段创新性地采用了交变相位聚焦（APF）结构。在这个过程中,通过研究APF DTL的束流运动规律和设计思想,自主开发了APF DTL的底层物理设计软件,相继完成了物理设计、电磁设计、机械设计、加工建造、腔体冷测、高频老练和载束实验等多个阶段的工作,最终成功引出了7 MeV、7 mA的质子束流。经过束诊系统的测量分析,认定束流中心能量为6.975 MeV,动量分散在±0.35%以内的束流流强为6.07 mA。成为国产首台医用质子直线注入器和首个实现成功载束的APF加速腔。     

New products

The UVSOR facility is a low-energy synchrotron radiation facility belonging to the Institute for Molecular Science in Okazaki, Japan. Since the first light in 1983, this facility has been operational as a national synchrotron light source for lower-energy photons from the terahertz wave to soft X-rays. The machine is operated for more than 2500 hours in a year. The cumulative number of users in a year is around 1,000. The UVSOR accelerator complex consists of a 15 MeV injector linac, a 750 MeV booster synchrotron, and a 750 MeV storage ring. The circumference of the ring is 53 m. A recent view of the storage ring and beamlines is shown in Figure 1.     

Physical design of scanning gantry for proton therapy facility

A proton therapy facility based on a linac injector and a slow cycling synchrotron is proposed.To achieve effective treatment of cancer,a scanning gantry is required.The flexible transmission of beam and high beam position accuracy are the most basic requirements for a gantry.The designed gantry optics and scanning system are presented.Great efforts are put into studying the sensitivity of the beam position in the isocenter to the element misalignments.It shows that quadrupole shift makes the largest contribution and special attention should be paid to it.     

Error analysis and lattice improvement for the C-ADS Injector-Ⅰ

The injector Scheme-Ⅰ (or Injector-Ⅰ) of the C-ADS linac is a 10 mA 10 MeV proton linac working in CW mode. It is mainly comprised of a 3.2 MeV room-temperature 4-vane RFQ and twelve superconducting single-spoke cavities housed in a long cryostat. Error analysis including alignment and field errors, and static and dynamic ones for the injector are presented. Based on detailed numerical simulations, an orbit correction scheme has been designed, which shows that with correction the rms residual orbit errors can be controlled within 0.3 mm and a beam loss rate of 1.7× 10^-6 is obtained. To reduce the beam loss rate further, an improved lattice design for the superconducting spoke cavity section has been studied.     

Future developments of INFN-LNL nuclear beam facilities

The accelerator group at INFN-LNL has been mostly engaged, recently, in completing and commissioning the higher current injector of the linac booster ALPI (named PIAVE) and in constructing and assembling the front-end part of a high current driver linac for the RNB facility SPES. PIAVE, designed to accelerate ions with A/Q = < 8.5 up to 1.2 MeV/u, is now completed. The injector has been commissioned with O, Ar, Ne and Xe beams. Neon and argon beams have been delivered to experiments for a total of about 400 hours. A consolidation program of PIAVE and ALPI is planned, so as to deliver a larger variety of beams with a current range  pnA and with an energy exceeding the Coulomb barrier in relevant nuclear reaction cases. The RNB facility SPES, allowing a frontier program in RNB physics, is being designed and prototyped: beams of neutron rich medium-to-heavy mass nuclei will be produced inducing ²³⁸U fission with a 40 MeV 200μA proton beam impinging onto a multi-slice direct target. A further development of ALPI will make it best suitable for the re-acceleration of radioactive nuclear species, after charge breeding and isotope selection.     

Progress on the construction of the 100 MeV/100 kW electron linac for the NSC KIPT neutron source

IHEP, China is constructing a 100 MeV/100 kW electron Linac for NSC KIPT, Ukraine. This linac will be used as the driver of a neutron source based on a subcritical assembly. In 2012, the injector part of the accelerator was pre-installed as a testing facility in the experimental hall ≠2 of IHEP. The injector beam and key hardware testing results met the design goal. Recently, the injector testing facility was disassembled and all of the components for the whole accelerator have been shipped to Ukraine from China by the ocean shipping. The installation of the whole machine in KIPT will be started in June, 2013. The construction progress, the design and testing results of the injector beam and key hardware are presented.