The Cyclotron

The largest particle accelerators have dimensions

measured in miles. A cyclotron is a particle accelerator
that is so compact that a small one could actually fit in
your pocket. It makes use of electric and magnetic fields
in a clever way to accelerate a charge in a small space.

A cyclotron consists of two D-shaped regions known as dees. In each

dee there is a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the page. In
the gap separating the dees there is a uniform electric field pointing from
one dee to the other. When a charge is released from rest in the gap it is
accelerated by the electric field and carried into one of the dees. The
magnetic field in the dee causes the charge to follow a half-circle that
carries it back to the gap.
While the charge is in the dee the electric field in the gap is reversed, so
the charge is once again accelerated across the gap. The cycle continues
with the magnetic field in the dees continually bringing the charge back
to the gap. Every time the charge crosses the gap it picks up speed. This
causes the half-circles in the dees to increase in radius, and eventually
the charge emerges from the cyclotron at high speed.

How can you time it so the electric field reverses direction at the right
time to accelerate the charge properly? Recall that for a charge following
a circular path in a uniform magnetic field, the period is independent of
the speed of the charge. Every half-circle in the dees takes the same
amount of time. Unlike the cyclotron in the simulation, a real cyclotron
is set up with a small gap so that the time to cross the gap is much
smaller than the time spent in a dee. Hooking the dees up to an AC
voltage source that reverses direction at regular intervals (corresponding
to the time the charge takes to do a half-circle in a dee) is all that is
required to produce an electric field that reverses direction at the
appropriate time.

Consider these questions relating to the design of the cyclotron.

1. The first time the charge crosses the gap its kinetic energy increases
by an amount ΔK. What is the change in kinetic energy associated with
each half-circle in a dee.

1. larger than ΔK
2. equal to ΔK
3. smaller than ΔK

In a dee the force on the charge comes from the magnetic field, so the
force is perpendicular to the velocity. The speed, and hence the kinetic
energy, stays constant, so the change is zero.

2. The first time the charge crosses the gap its kinetic energy increases
by an amount ΔK. Assuming the electric field in the gap is the same
magnitude at all times, what is the change in kinetic energy the second
time the charge crosses the gap?

1. larger than ΔK
2. equal to ΔK
3. smaller than ΔK

If the electric field has the same magnitude, the potential difference
across the gap always has the same magnitude.
ΔK = q ΔV, so the kinetic energy increases by the same amount each
time the charge crosses the gap.

3. Let's say you want to increase the speed of the particles when they
emerge from the cyclotron. Which is more effective, increasing the
potential difference across the gap or increasing the magnetic field in the
dees?

1. increasing the potential difference in the gap

2. increasing the magnetic field in the dees
3. either one, they're equally effective

The final kinetic energy is essentially independent of the potential

difference in the gap, but the kinetic energy is proportional to the square
of the magnetic field, so increasing the magnetic field is the way to
increase the kinetic energy.

Note that whatever the magnitudes of the fields the final half-circle the
charge passes through in the dee has a radius approximately equal to R,
the radius of the dee itelf. The radius of the circular path of a charged
particle in a magnetic field is:

r = mv/qB.

In this case the speed of the particle is v = RqB/m.

Therefore the final kinetic energy is:

K = 1/2 mv2 = R2q2B2/2m

History
The first cyclotron was developed and patented by Ernest
Lawrence in 1932 at the University of California, Berkeley. He
used large electromagnets recycled from obsolete Poulsen
arc radio transmitters provided by the Federal Telegraph
Company A graduate student, M. Stanley Livingston, did much of
the work of translating the idea into working hardware Lawrence
read an article about the concept of a drift tube linac by Rolf
Widerøe, who had also been working along similar lines with
the betatron concept. At the Radiation Laboratory of
the University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence constructed a
series of cyclotrons which were the most powerful accelerators in
the world at the time; a 69 cm (27 in) 4.8 MeV machine (1932), a
94 cm (37 in) 8 MeV machine (1937), and a 152 cm (60 in)
16 MeV machine (1939). He also developed a 467 cm
(184 in) synchrocyclotron (1945). Lawrence received the
1939 Nobel prize in physics for this work.
The first European cyclotron was constructed in Leningrad in the
physics department of the Radium Institute, headed by Vitaly
Khlopin [ru]. This Leningrad instrument was first proposed in 1932
by George Gamow and Lev Mysovskii [ru] and was installed and
became operative by 1937. In Nazi Germany a cyclotron was built
in Heidelberg under supervision of Walther Bothe and Wolfgang
Gentner, with support from the Heereswaffenamt, and became
operative in 1943
It is a device used to accelerate charged particles like protons,
deutrons, αα-particles, etc, to very high energies.

PRINCIPLE :
A charged particle can be accelerated to very high energies by making it
pass through a moderate electric field a number of times. This can be
done with the help of a perpendicular magnetic field which throws the
charged particle into a circular motion, the frequency of which does not
depend on the speed of the particle and the radius of the circular orbit.

CONSTRUCTION :
As shown in figure, a cyclotron consists of the following main parts:

1. It consists of two small, hollow, metallic half-

cylinders D1D1 and D2D2 called deesdees as they are in the shape
of DD.
2. They are mounted inside a vacuum chamber between the poles of a
powerful electromagnet.
3. The dees are connected to the source of high frequency alternating
voltage of few hundred kilovolts.
4. The beam of charged particles to be accelerated is injected into the
dees near their centre, in a plane perpendicular to the magnetic field.
5. The charged particles are pulled out of the dees by a deflecting plate
(which is negatively charged) through a window WW.
6. The whole device is in high vacuum (pressure ∼10−6∼10−6 mm of
Hg) so that the air molecules may not collide with the charged
particles.

THEORY :
Let a particle of charge qq and mass mm enter a region of magnetic
field B→B→ with a velocity v→v→ normal to the field B→B→. The
particle follows a circular path, the necessary centripetal force begin
provided by the magnetic field. Therefore,

Magnetic force on charge qq = Centripetal force on charge qq

or
qvBsin90o=mv2rqvBsin⁡90o=mv2r or r=mvqBr=mvqB

Period of revolution of the charged particle is given by

T=2πrv=2πv.mvqB=2πmqBT=2πrv=2πv.mvqB=2πmqB

Hence frequency of revolution of the particle will be

fc=1T=qB2πmfc=1T=qB2πm
Clearly,this frequency is independent of both the velocity of the particle
and the radius of the orbit and is called cyclotron frequency or magnetic
resonance frequency.This is the key fact which is made use of in the
operation of a cyclotron.
WORKING :
Suppose a positive ion,say a proton,enters the gap between the two dees
and finds dee D1 to be negative.It gets accelerated towards dee D1D1.As
it enters the dee D1D1,it does not experience any electric field due to
shielding effect of the metallic dee. The perpendicular magnetic field
throws it into a circular path.At the instant the proton comes out of
dee D1D1,,it finds dee D1D1 positive and dee D2D2. It moves faster
through D2D2 describing a larger semicircle than before. Thus if the
frequency of the applied voltage is kept exactly the same as the
frequency of revolution of the proton,then every time the proton reaches
the gap between the two dees, the electric field is reversed and proton
receives a push and finally it acquires very high energy. This is called
the cyclotron’s resonance condition. The proton follows a spiral path.
The accelerated proton is ejected through a window by a deflecting
voltage and hits the target.

MAXIMUM K.E OF THE ACCELERATED IONS :

The ions will attain maximum velocity near the periphery of the dees.
If v0v0 is the maximum velocity acquired by the ions and r0r0 is the
radius of the dees, then
mv20r0=qv0Bmv02r0=qv0B or v0=qBr0mv0=qBr0m

The maximum kinetic energy of the ions will be

K0=12mv20=12m[qBr0m]2K0=12mv02=12m[qBr0m]2
or
K0=q2B2r202mK0=q2B2r022m.

LIMITATIONS OF CYCLOTRON:
1.According to the Einstein’s special theory of relativity,the mass of a
particle increases with the increase in its velocity as
m=m01−v2/c2√m=m01−v2/c2
Where momo is the rest mass of the particle. At high velocities,the
cyclotron frequency (fc=qB/2πm)(fc=qB/2πm) will decrease due to
increase in mass. This will throw the particles out of resonance with the
oscillating field. That is,as the ions reach the gap between the dees, the
polarity of the dees is not reversed at that instant. Consequently the ions
are not accelerated further.
The above drawback is overcome either by increasing magnetic field as
in a synchrotron or by decreasing the frequency of the alternating
electric field as in a synchro-cyclotron.

2. Electrons cannot be accelerated in a cyclotron.A large increase in their

energy increases their velocity to a very large extent.This throws the
electrons out of step with the oscillating field.

3.Neutron,being electrically neutral,cannot be accelerated in a cyclotron.

USES OF CYCLOTRON:
1.The high energy particles produced in a cylinder are used to
bombard nuclei and study the resulting nuclear reactions and hence
investigate nuclear structure.
2.The high energy particles are used to produce other high energy
particles,such as Neutrons by collisions.These fast neutrons used in
atomic reactions.

3.It is used to implant ions into solids and modify their properties or
even synthesis new materials.

4.It is used to produce radioactive isotopes which are used in hospitals

for diagnosis and treatment.

Working-
When a positive ion of charge q and mass m is emitted from the source,
it is accelerated towards the Dee having a negative potential at that
instant of time. Due to the normal magnetic field, the ion experiences
magnetic lorentz force and moves in a circular path. By the time the ion
arrives at the gap between the Dees, the polarity of the Dees gets
reversed. Hence the particle is once again accelerated and moves into
the other Dee with a greater velocity along a circle of greater radius.
Thus the particle moves in a spiral path of increasing radius and when it
comes near the edge, it is taken out with the help of a deflector plate
(D.P). The particle with high energy is now allowed to hit the target T.
Modern cyclotron