Characteristics of extracted beam from a synchrotron using a fast Q-magnet assisted by RF-knockout

Beam experiment has been carried out at the HIMAC synchrotron to study characteristics of a beam extracted with alternate operation of a fast Q-magnet (FQ) to extract and RF-knockout to diffuse a circulating beam. The FQ coil current of a chopping wave was used to find a particle density distribution after the diffusion. Two kinds of RF-knockout signal were used: a colored noise and a frequency modulation signal. The results showed that the spill structure was like an exponential wave pattern roughly and nearly constant by use of the colored noise and was varied with the frequency modulation signal. The colored noise also gave a nearly constant diffusion rate.     

Development of beam current control system in RF-knockout slow extraction

A raster scanning method has been developed for cancer therapy at NIRS-HIMAC. This method requires a high-accuracy beam current control and fast beam-on/off switching. We have developed a feedback control system of the beam current with the RF-knockout slow extraction method. The system has allowed a stable response to beam-on/off switching using a feedback control delay function with a beam-current ripple of 7%.     

Beam stability improvement of the HIMAC synchrotron using a feed-forward system for magnet power supplies

In order to realize a precise dose distribution in heavy-ion cancer therapy, high beam stability is required for the accelerator complex. Owing to load fluctuation caused by the upper ring, which is one of the two rings in HIMAC, current dips of ≈5-10 Hz were observed in the power supply for the bending/quadrupole magnet of the other lower ring. The parameters of the beam stability, such as the spill variation, the beam position, and the size, were adversely affected by the current dips. In order to suppress these current dips, we developed a new feed-forward system in the magnet power supply. We verified the performance of the feed-forward system by measuring the suppression of the current dips. We also performed beam experiments to measure the variation of the horizontal tune and the structure of the beam spill, which is slowly extracted by the resonance method. The experimental result showed that the current dips were successfully reduced by the system to ΔI/I ∼ 10⁻⁶. It was also confirmed that the horizontal tune and the spill structure could be stabilized by the current dip suppression.     

Recent advances for ion beam therapy accelerators using synchrotrons

Ion beam therapy has evolved a lot during the last years. After more than a decade of successful clinical studies and first treatment in hospital environment, the carbon beam treatment, which always relies on a synchrotron as main accelerator, has clearly shown its own potential. The clinical success of carbon beam treatment is indicated by the growing number of new fully clinical based facilities. There is a lot of improvement potential for these facilities in order to increase their treatment quality, functionality and capacity as well as the cost effectiveness of the patient treatment. This article focuses on the currently ongoing investigations to fully explore this potential. It can be concluded that synchrotron based ion beam facilities are improving into many directions. This will further improve their impact on the cancer treatment and consequently their benefit to the whole society.     

Ion beam optics analysis and beam transmission simulation in the reflection magnet of the EAST NBI system

Detailed trajectories of the residual ion passing through a reflection magnet, which is installed in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) neutral beam injector (NBI) system to remove the residual ion from the beam path, are reported. Monte Carlo simulation has been performed to obtain estimations of the beam density on the high heat flux elements of reflection magnet. On magnet pole shielding, there are three high beam power density regions, resulting from beam line focus and corresponding to the full energy, half energy and third energy. These high heat flux regions will bring a serious challenge for steady-state operation. The simulation result indicates that the re-ionization loss is about 2.43% and the magnet pole shielding encounters a problem of beam line focus, which should be taken seriously during the steady-state operation.     

A preliminary clinic dosimetry study for synchrotron radiation therapy at SSRF

Synchrotron radiation （SR） represents a unique and innovative anti-cancer treatment due to its unique physical features, including high flux density, and tunable and collimated radiation generation. The aim of this work is to assess the dosimetric properties of SR in Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility （SSRF） for potential applications to clinical radiation oncology. The experiments were performed with 34 and 50 keV X-rays on the BL13W biomedical beamline of SSRF and the 6 MV X-rays from ARTISTE linac for the dosimetry study. The percentage depth dose （PDD） and the surface dose of the SR X-rays and the 6 MV photon beams were performed in solid water phantom with Gafchromic EBT3 films. All curves are normalized to the maximum calculated dose. The depth of full dose buildup is about l0 gm deeper for the monoenergetic X-ray beams of 34 and 50 keV. The beam transmits through the phantom, with a linear attenuation coefficient. The profile in the horizontal plane shows that the dose distribution is uniform within the facula, while the vertical profile shows a Gaussian distribution of the dose. The pemlmbra is less than 0.2 mm in the horizontal profile. Gafchromic EBT film may be a useful and convenient tool for dose measurement and quality control for the high space and density resolution. It is therefore important to gain a thorough understanding about the physical features of SR before this novel technology can be applied to clinical practice.     

Potential applications of synchrotron radiation to the treatment of cancer

Although conventional radiotherapy remains to be one of the most useful treatments for cancer, it is not the best strategy to maximize the effects on the tumors and minimize the damage to the surrounding tissues due to its physical and biological characteristics. Synchrotron radiation (SR) with uniquely physical and biological advantages may represent an innovative approach for cancer treatment. In recent years, SR-based photon activation therapy, stereotactic synchrotron radiation therapy and micro-beam radiation treatment have been developed, and the results of in vitro and in vivo experiments are very promising. It is necessary to understand the physical and radiobiological principle of those novel strategies before the approach is applied to the clinic. In this paper, we summarize the advances of SR in terms of physical, radiobiological advantages and its potential clinical applications. With the successful operation of shanghai synchrotron radiation, good opportunities in China have been provided for investigations on the treatment of cancer with synchrotron radiation.     

Development of synchrotron control for Heavy-Ion Medical Accelerators

The power supplies for the main bending and quadrupole magnets of the Heavy-Ion Medical Accelerator (HIMAC) in Chiba are controlled by preset current and voltage patterns, which are created by a pattern-creation program. It has been observed that a deviation between the preset current and the actual one becomes very large when newly created patterns are applied to the power supplies. This deviation is attributed to the incorrect parameters used for calculations of the voltage pattern in the pattern-creation program. In order to reduce the deviation, we have analyzed the values of resistance and inductance using the actual data of the current and voltage patterns. As a result, more than 10% difference was found between the conventional and newly calculated parameters. By applying the new parameters to the pattern-creation program a reduction of the deviation was confirmed.     

Design of the reflection magnet and its shielding effect analysis for the neutral beam injector of EAST

In this paper,a reflection magnet to be installed in the EAST neutral beam injection system is simulated and designed.The field intensity of reflection magnet of 42-cm maximum bending radius is about 1.539×10-1 T for 100 keV deuterium beam.The shielding cage is formed by rods.Using the ANSOFT software,the magnetic shielding effect was estimated at about 3% at the magnet pole region.     

用于脉宽压缩的Mobley磁铁均匀场和边缘场的测量及均匀度的提高

Mobley磁铁是2.5MV质子静电加速器毫微秒束流脉冲化研制中一个很关键的装置。它的作用是将加速器头部切割出的10—15ns脉冲束流经过加速后在尾部压缩成1—2ns脉冲束。Mobley磁铁的性能对脉冲束在靶上的脉宽及斑点大小起着重要的作用。要求磁场有±5×10~(-4)的均匀度。该磁铁采用了积木式等结构。通过测磁发现,磁场的均匀度只有±7×10~(-4),不     

用于大尺寸样品的同步辐射硬X射线衍射增强成像方法研究

作为 X 射线相衬成像的方法之一,衍射增强成像方法由于能获得较高的信噪比及分辨率而引起了人们的研究兴趣。北京同步辐射装置(BSRF)形貌学实验站也开展了该方法的探索研究。此前的衍射增强成像方法中,当白光 X 射线光束横截面尺寸为 20 mm×10 mm 时,经过双晶单色器后最大只能获得横截面尺寸为20 mm×4 mm 的均匀单色 X 射线,从而造成成像区域减小。在对通常衍射增强成像光路排列分析的基础上,提出了一种新的光学排列几何并进行了衍射增强实验。应用新光学排列几何首次获得了与入射白光 X 射线尺寸相当的、大的成像光斑均匀区域,因而新光学排列几何更适合于大尺寸样品的研究工作。同时,该光学排列几何成像分辨率可以达到微米量级并且更方便于实验操作。     

Infrared synchrotron radiation spectroscopy and microspectroscopy: new tools for interdisciplinary applications

Synchrotron radiation sources, whose number is steadily increasing, are undoubtedly the most powerful and brilliant sources in the X-ray range. Although the synchrotron emission covers with high brilliance also the infrared region, its use in this energy range has developed at a much slower rate. Nowadays, after a couple of decades of attempts, the aim of extending the unique performances of the synchrotron source to the infrared domain is achieved by several dedicated beamlines in different countries. With their high-brilliance, polarized and broad-band radiation one may perform experiments that are out of the range of conventional sources from the near-IR up to the far-IR range.     

Simulation study of slow extraction for the Shanghai Advanced Proton Therapy facility

The Shanghai Advanced Proton Therapy facility employs third-integer slow extraction. In order to achieve accurate treatment, high-quality spill is needed. Therefore,parameters that may affect slow extraction should be investigated by simulation. A computer model of the synchrotron operation slow extraction was constructed with MATLAB~. By simulating the motion of the circulating protons, we could quantify the influence of machine and initial beam parameters on properties of the extracted beam, such as ripple, uniformity, stability, on-and off-time of the spill and spill width in the synchrotron.Suitable design parameters including the horizontal tunes,power supply ripple, longitudinal RF cavity voltage, RFKO and the chromaticities were determined.     

White beam synchrotron topography using a high resolution digital X-ray imaging detector

X-ray topography is a well known imaging technique to characterise strain and extended defects in single crystals. Topographs are typically collected on X-ray films. On the one hand such photographic films show a limited dynamic range and the production of films will be discontinued step by step in the near future. On the other hand new imaging detectors improved for X-ray tomography become more and more attractive even for topography because of increasing resolution, dynamic range, speed and active area. In this paper we report about the upgrade of the TOPO-TOMO beamline at the synchrotron light source ANKA, Research Centre Karlsruhe, with a high resolution digital camera for the topography use.     

Criticality in the fabrication of ion extraction system for SST-1 neutral beam injector

For the heating of plasma in steady-state superconducting tokamak (SST-1) (Y.C. Saxena, SST-1 Team, Present status of the SST-1 project, Nucl. Fusion 40 (2000) 1069–1082; D. Bora, SST-1 Team, Test results on systems developed for the SST-1 tokamak, Nucl. Fusion 43 (2003) 1748–1758), a neutral beam injector is provided to raise the ion temperature to 1 keV. This injector has a capability of injecting hydrogen beam with the power of 0.5 MW at 30 keV. For the upgrade of SST-1, power of 1.7 MW at 55 KeV is required. Further, beam power is to be provided for a pulse length of 1000S. We have designed a neutral beam injector (S.K. Mattoo, A.K. Chakraborty, U.K. Baruah, P.K. Jayakumar, M. Bandyopadhyay, N. Bisai, Ch. Chakrapani, M.R. Jana, R. Onali, V. Prahlad, P.J. Patel, G.B. Patel, B. Prajapati, N.V.M. Rao, S. Rambabu, C. Rotti, S.K. Sharma, S. Shah, V. Sharma, M.J. Singh, Engineering design of the steady-state neutral beam injector for SST-1, Fusion Eng. Des. 56 (2001) 685–691; A.K. Chakraborty, N. Bisai, M.R. Jana, P.K. Jayakumar, U.K. Baruah, P.J. Patel, K. Rajasekar, S.K. Mattoo, Neutral beam injector for steady-state superconducting tokamak, Fusion Technol. (1996) 657–660; P.K. Jayakumar, M.R. Jana, N. Bisai, M. Bajpai, N.P. Singh, U.K. Baruah, A.K. Chakraborty, M. Bandyopadhyay, C. Chrakrapani, D. Patel, G.B. Patel, P. Patel, V. Prahlad, N.V.M. Rao, C. Rotti, V. Sreedhar, S.K. Mattoo, Engineering issues of a 1000S neutral beam ion source, Fusion Technol. 1 (1998) 419–422) satisfying the requirements for both SST-1 and its upgrade. Since intense power is to be transported to SST-1 situated at a distance of several meters from the ion source, the optical quality of the beam becomes a primary concern. This in turn, is determined by the uniformity of the ion source plasma and the extractor geometry. To obtain the desired optical quality of the beam, stringent tolerances are to be met during the fabrication of ion extractor system.

SST-1 neutral beam injector is based on positive ion source. The extraction system consists of three grids, each having extraction area of (width) 230 mm × (height) 480 mm and 774-shaped apertures of 8-mm diameter. To obtain horizontal focal length of 5.4 m and vertical of 7 m, each grid consists of two halves with 387 apertures. Two halves are inclined at an angle of 1.07 ± 0.01°. For long pulse operation, active water cooling is provided by in-laid down of dense network of 22 wavy semicircular (r = 1.1 ± 0.05 mm) cooling channels in the space available between the apertures. The required flatness of the copper plate is 100 μm and positioning tolerance of aperture is ±60 μm. The measurement obtained after fabrication is compared with the specifications. It is pointed out that fabrication within set tolerance limit could be achieved only through process of fabrication and high-resolution measurements.     

D-T快中子照相准直屏蔽体设计及中子束特性的模拟研究

设计一个用于氘氚(D-T)快中子照相的准直屏蔽体系统,对D-T中子发生器快中子在准直屏蔽体材料中输运的MCNP模拟研究,给出准直中子束的中子能谱、注量率及均匀性、γ射线能谱和γ射线注量率等重要参数.模拟结果显示,用D-T中子发生器中子源和合理的准直屏蔽体系统可得到快中子照相所需的准直快中子束.     

电子回旋共振离子源永磁体的优化设计

对永磁电子回旋共振(Electron cyclotron resonance,ECR)离子源磁场运用Poisson程序进行了模拟计算,将模拟计算结果和测量结果进行了比较.依据计算结果,设计加工了NdFeB(钕铁硼)永磁体,得到了比较好的磁场场形,并在ECR离子源调试中获得了较强的束流.     

The design and the manufacturing process of the superconducting toroidal field magnet system for EAST device

The toroidal field (TF) magnet system of EAST (HT-7U), which consists of 16 superconducting coils enclosed in steel cases, has been manufactured to generate the magnetic field of 3.5 T at the plasma center to maintain plasma in a tokamak configuration with a current up to 1 MA. The TF coils have an approximately D-shape geometry of 2.6 m wide and 4.0 m high, and operate at a maximum field of 5.8 T. The conductor used in the TF coil is NbTi/Cu cable-in conduit (CIC) conductor, and its operating current is 14.3 kA.In March 2006, the first cooling down of the EAST device has been carried out successfully. The total of TF magnet system has been cooled down from room temperature to 4.5 K, and the TF system has been energized up to 8.2 kA with 5 A/s ramp rate. In September 2006, full performances of the TF magnet system have been reached, and the device of EAST has delivered its first plasma. In addition, the TF magnet system has been routinely operated with a current maintained constant on a whole day basis, for a preliminary program of more than 500 shots.In this paper, the main parts of the design, developmental tests, and the fabrication and assembly of TF coils are described in detail.     

Development of a high-repetition-rate lumped-inductance kicker magnet prototype for the beam switchyard of SHINE

The Shanghai high-repetition-rate X-ray free-electron laser and extreme light facility(SHINE) operates at a maximum repetition rate of 1 MHz. Kicker magnets are key components that distribute electron bunches into three di erent undulator lines in a bunch-by-bunch mode. The kicker field width must be less than the time interval between bunches. A lumpedinductance kicker prototype was developed using a vacuum chamber with a single-turn coil. The full magnetic field strength was 0.005 T. This pape...