Unit 10 - Lectures 14

Cyclotron Basics

MIT 8.277/6.808 Intro to Particle Accelerators

Timothy A. Antaya
Principal Investigator
MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center

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 Outline

 Introduce an important class of circular particle

accelerators: Cyclotrons and Synchrocyclotrons

 Identify the key characteristics and performance of each

type of cyclotron and discuss their primary applications

 Discuss the current status of an advance in both the science

and engineering of these accelerators, including operation at
high magnetic field

Overall aim: reach a point where it will be possible for to

work a practical exercise in which you will determine the
properties of a prototype high field cyclotron design (next
lecture)

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Motion in a magnetic field

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Magnetic forces are perpendicular to the B field and the
motion

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Sideways force must also be Centripedal

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 Governing Relation in Cyclotrons

 A charge q, in a uniform magnetic field B at radius r,

and having tangential velocity v, sees a centripetal
force at right angles to the direction of motion:

mv 2 r r
rˆ = qv ! B
r

 The angular frequency of rotation seems to be independent of

velocity:

! = qB / m

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 Building an accelerator using cyclotron resonance
condition

 A flat pole H-magnet

electromagnet is sufficient
to generate require
magnetic field
 Synchronized electric fields
can be used to raise the
ion energies as ions rotate
in the magnetic field
 Higher energy ions
naturally move out in
radius
 Highest possible closed ion
orbit in the magnet sets
the highest possible ion
energy

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 There is a difficulty- we can’t ignore relativity

 A charge q, in a uniform magnetic field B at radius r,

and having tangential velocity v, sees a centripetal
force at right angles to the direction of motion:

mv 2 r r
rˆ = qv ! B
r
 Picking an axial magnetic field B and azimuthal velocity v
allows us to solve this relation:

mv 2 / r = qvB " = v /r = qB /m

 However: m = "m 0

! 2
" = 1/ 1 ! v
c2
!
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 Relativistic Limit on Cyclotron Acceleration

 The mass in ω= qB/m is the relativistic mass m=γm0

 ω≈constant only for very low energy cyclotrons

Proton Energy % Frequency

decrease
10 MeV ~1%

250 MeV ~21%

1.0 GeV ~52%

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 How to manage the relativistic change in mass?

There are 3 kinds of Cyclotrons:

 CLASSICAL: (original)
 Operate at fixed frequency (ω= qB/m) and ignore the mass increase
 Works to about 25 MeV for protons (γ≅1.03)
 Uses slowly decreasing magnetic field ‘weak focusing’

 SYNCHROCYCLOTRON: let the RF frequency ω decreases as the

energy increases
 ω=ω0/γ to match the increase in mass (m= γm0)
 Uses same decreasing field with radius as classical cyclotron

 ISOCHRONOUS: raise the magnetic field with radius such that the
relativistic mass increase is just cancelled
 Pick B=γB0 {this also means that B increases with radius}
 Then ω= qB/m = qB0/m0 is constant.
 Field increases with radius- magnet structure must be different

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Some Examples of Cyclotrons

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 1932 Cyclotron

Evacuated Beam
Chamber sits between 180˚ ‘Dee’
magnet poles:

Vacuum Port

Internal Energy Analyzer Ion Source is a gas feed

and a wire spark gap

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 The Largest…

 Gatchina Synchrocyclotron at Petersburg Nuclear Physics…

1000 MeV protons and 10,000 tons

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Superconducting Isochronous Cyclotron

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 The Highest Magnetic Field…

 Still River Systems 9 Tesla, 250 MeV, synchrocyclotron for Clinical

Proton Beam Radiotherapy

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 The Newest…

 Nanotron: superconducting,
cold iron, cryogen free
‘portable’ deuterium
cyclotron

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New Cyclotrons and Synchrocyclotrons are coming..
Isotron -for short lived PET isotope production:
 Protons or heavy ions
 30-100 MeV
 Synchrocyclotron or isochronous cyclotron is possible

Also:
 Gigatron: 1 GeV, 10 mA protons for airborne active interrogation
 Megatron: 600 MeV muon cyclotron (requires a gigatron to produce
muons and a reverse cyclotron muon cooler for capture for accel.)

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 Key Characteristics of the Cyclotron ‘Class’

Cyclotron utility is due to:

 Ion capture and Beam formation at low velocity, followed by
acceleration to relativistic speeds in a single device
 Efficient use of low acceleration voltage makes them robust and
uncritical; pulsed or CW operation allowed
 Beam characteristics are wrapped up in the design of the static
magnetic guide field; ions have high orbital stability
 Ion species: H+ --> U; neg. ions (e.g. H-), molecular ions (e.g. HeH+)
 Intensities; picoamps (one ion per rf bucket) to milliamps
 γ: 0.01 --> 2.3
Have resulted in:
 2nd largest application base historically and currently (electron
linacs used in radiotherapy are 1st)
 Science (Nuclear, Atomic, Plasma, Archeology, Atmospheric, Space),
Medicine, Industry, Security
 Highest energy CW accelerator in the world: K1200 heavy ion at
MSU- 19.04 GeV 238U

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 Key Characteristics- prob. most important:

Cyclotron utility is due to:

 Ion capture and Beam formation at low velocity, followed by
acceleration to relativistic speeds in a single device
 Efficient use of low acceleration voltage makes them robust and
uncritical; pulsed or CW operation allowed
 Beam characteristics are wrapped up in the design of the static
magnetic guide field; ions have high orbital stability
 Ion species: H+ --> U; neg. ions (e.g. H-), molecular ions (e.g. HeH+)
 Intensities; picoamps (one ion per rf bucket) to milliamps
 γ: 0.01 --> 2.3
Have resulted in:
 2nd largest application base historically and currently (electron
linacs used in radiotherapy are 1st)
 Science (Nuclear, Atomic, Plasma, Archeology, Atmospheric, Space),
Medicine, Industry, Security
 Highest energy CW accelerator in the world: K1200 heavy ion at
MSU- 19.04 GeV 238U

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 Classical Cyclotrons

Weak focusing
Phase stability

Limited by Relativistic Mass Increase

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 How to manage the relativistic change in mass?

There are 3 kinds of Cyclotrons:

 CLASSICAL: (original)
 Operate at fixed frequency (ω= qB/m) and ignore the mass increase
 Works to about 25 MeV for protons (γ≅1.03)
 Uses slowly decreasing magnetic field ‘weak focusing’

 SYNCHROCYCLOTRON: let the RF frequency ω decreases as the

energy increases
 ω=ω0/γ to match the increase in mass (m= γm0)
 Uses same decreasing field with radius as classical cyclotron

 ISOCHRONOUS: raise the magnetic field with radius such that the
relativistic mass increase is just cancelled
 Pick B=γB0 {this also means that B increases with radius}
 Then ω= qB/m = qB0/m0 is constant.
 Field increases with radius- magnet structure must be different

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The 1931 Cyclotron…

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 Cyclotron Schematic Diagram (via Lawrence Patent)

 A flat pole electromagnet (3) generates a vertical magnetic field (m)

 Ions (P) rotate in the mid-plane of an evacuated split hollow conductor (1-2)
 Time varying electric fields (4) applied to the outside of this conductor raise
the ion energies as ions rotate in the magnetic field and cross the split line
gap- the only place where electric fields (e) appear
 Higher energy ions naturally move out in radius
 Highest allowed closed ion orbit in magnet sets the highest possible ion energy

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 Let’s break down the key phenomena that make cyclotrons
work…

 We’ll do this in a very ‘raw’ manner- using elementary properties

of ions, conductors and electromagnetic fields

 Why choose this approach?

 To demonstrate just how utterly simple cyclotrons are

 To get to better appreciate the key challenges in making cyclotrons
work
 To understand how the advance machines just shown are possible

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 Magnetic Field Generation

 A flat pole electromagnet (3) generates a vertical magnetic field (m)

 Ions (P) rotate in the mid-plane of an evacuated split hollow conductor (1-2)
 Time varying electric fields (4) applied to the outside of this conductor raise
the ion energies as ions rotate in the magnetic field and cross the split line
gap- the only place where electric fields (e) appear
 Higher energy ions naturally move out in radius
 Highest allowed closed ion orbit in magnet sets the highest possible ion energy

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Typical large H Magnet

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Magnetic field of a H Magnet

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 Ion Acceleration-- requires a bit more work…

 A flat pole electromagnet (3) generates a vertical magnetic field (m)

 Ions (P) rotate in the mid-plane of an evacuated split hollow conductor (1-2)
 Time varying electric fields (4) applied to the outside of this conductor raise
the ion energies as ions rotate in the magnetic field and cross the split line
gap- the only place where electric fields (e) appear
 Higher energy ions naturally move out in radius
 Highest allowed closed ion orbit in magnet sets the highest possible ion energy

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Acceleration really looks something like this…

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Why not magnetic field only acceleration?

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 Ion Orbital Rotation Frequency- numerically

 Consider an arbitrary positive ion of atomic species (A,Z) with

Q orbital electrons removed. The ion cyclotron frequency
would be:

" qB $ Q' e B
f = = 2
2# #m = &% A )( 2#m *
0

 Where m0 is the rest mass of a nucleon (~940 MeV).

Evaluating
! the constants:
" Q% B
f = $ '15.23MHz
# A& (
 Some examples:
 Low energy proton in 1 T field: 15.23 MHz
 250 MeV proton
! in 8.2T field: 98 MHz
 3.2GeV 40Ar16+ ion in 5.5T field: 30.8 MHz

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 Ion Motion in a cyclotron

 A flat pole electromagnet (3) generates a vertical magnetic field (m)

 Ions (P) rotate in the mid-plane of an evacuated split hollow conductor (1-2)
 Time varying electric fields (4) applied to the outside of this conductor raise
the ion energies as ions rotate in the magnetic field and cross the split line
gap- the only place where electric fields (e) appear
 Higher energy ions naturally move out in radius
 Highest allowed closed ion orbit in magnet sets the highest possible ion energy

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 Alternative Expression in Momentum

 Again we equate the two expressions for the same force:

mv 2 / r = qvB p = mv = qBr
 The momentum at any radius is completely defined by the magnetic
field there!
p3

p2
 Also, at the same field B,
!
 If p3>p2>p1
p1
 Then r3>r2>r1

 Since ω=dθ/dt=qB/m, even though the three orbits are different in

size, the ions will make 1 complete revolution at the same angular
rate (unless m=γm0 is very different for the three momenta)

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 Special Challenges in Cyclotrons

 Orbit Stability

 Initial beam Formation

 RF Acceleration

 Getting the beam out of the machine!

 p=erB --> p/e =rB
 we call ℜ≡rB the magnetic rigidity or magnetic stiffness
 We will see that ℜ shows up in the Cyclotron final energy formula- it’s in
KB=e2r2B2/2m0-
In cyclotrons, the final energy is essentially set by the radius and B field at
the point of beam extraction

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Built In Orbit Stability- Weak Focusing

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 The Field Index and Axial Stability

 An restoring force is required to keep ions

axially centered in the gap
 We define the field index as:

r dB
n=!
B dr
 One can show that an axial restoring for exists
when n>0 (off median plane Br has right sign)
 Hence dB/dr<0 is required since B and r enter in
ratios
 This condition can be met with a flat pole H-
Magnet

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Field Index n shows up in Equations of Motions

 Small oscillations of ions in r and z about equilibrium orbits:

˙x˙ + (1" n)# 2 x = 0
˙z˙ + n# 2 z = 0

 Have solutions :
x = x m sin(1" n)1 2 #t
!
z = zm sin n1 2#t
 Where ω is the cyclotron frequency
 Betatron Frequencies (Tunes): " = # /# = 1$ n
r r

! v z = # z /# = n
 Have real sinusoidal solutions for 0<n<1; this condition is true
in a classical cyclotron
 ! a weak focusing accelerator
It’s also referred to as

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Initial Beam Challenge

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For Example: Initial Proton trajectories at 9T

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 Positive Ion Source must be compact

 Straight-forward field
scaling of original 5.5 T ion
source of K500 cyclotron
 Chimney diameter 3 mm
 Test ion source has extra
support across median
plane
 allows separated cathode
geometry of Antaya thesis
or Harper cyclotron
 Pulsed cathode lifetime
expected to be months

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RF Acceleration Challenge

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Beam Extraction Challenge

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 Orbit Separation impacts Extraction

 Turn Number
 Let E1 be the energy gain per revolution
 Then the total number of revolutions required to reach a
final kinetic energy T:
 Let the average ion phase when crossing the acceleration
gap phase be φ; V0 is the peak voltage on the dee
 Energy gain per gap crossing: T1=V0sin φ
 Gaps per revolution: n
 Turn number: N=T/nT1=T/(nV0sin φ)
 250 MeV protons; 17 KeV/turn: N~15,000
 Turn Spacing:
 dr/dN~r(T1/T)
 250 MeV protons r=0.3m: dr/dN≅20 microns!

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Beam Extraction: 5 micron orbit turn spacing to 1 cm in
20 orbit revolutions induced by field perturbation

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Phase Stable Acceleration aka Phase Stability

 3 General Requirements:
 required instantaneous acceleration voltage is less than
the maximum available voltage
 a change in ion momentum results in a change in ion orbit
rotation period
 rate of change of the frequency is less than a limiting
critical value

 Second Condition is the most easily accessible:

d" 1 1 dp
=( $ 2)
" # % p

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Acceleration in a 9T Guide Field

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Cyclotrons- Final Energy Scaling with Field and
Radius

(The origin of Superconducting Cyclotrons

and Synchrocyclotrons)

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 Cyclotron Energy Scales inversely with Field

 The final energy can be written as a power series expansion

in the relativistic factor γ,

 The first term in this expansion is : Tfinal≅KBQ2/A, for an ion

of charge Qe and ion mass Am0

 KB represents the equivalent proton final energy for the

machine, and is related to the ion momentum a.k.a. the
particle rigidity (Bρ):

KB=(eBρ)2/2m0

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 This inverse size scaling is approx. spherical

Almost (but not quite) spherical: Efficient cyclotron magnetic circuits include more iron
laterally than axially

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 Radius and Field Scaling for Fixed Energy

B (T) rextraction (m) (r1/r)3

1 2.28 1

3 0.76 1/27

5 0.46 1/125

7 0.33 1/343

9 0.25 1/729

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 Classical Cyclotrons- Energy Limit

 Historically- E<25 MeV, and high acceleration voltages were

required
 WHY?
 Relativistic mass increase lowers the ion orbital frequency:
ω=qB/γm0
 Ion frequency relative to the fixed RF frequency decreases
(rotation time τ increases)
 Ions arrive increasing late with respect to the RF voltage on
the dee
 Eventually crossing the gaps at wrong phase and decelerates
 21 MeV proton : γfinal=1.022 seems small, but…
 Angular rotation slip near full energy
 dφ/dn=360°Δω/ω=360° [mB0/m0B - 1]≈360[γ-1]-->8°
 An ion on peak phase is lost in 11 revolutions
 Only solution- very high energy gain per turn - 360kV was
required to reach 21 MeV in the LBL 60” Cyclotron!

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