Millisecond burst extractions from synchrotrons using RF phase displacement acceleration

Abstract

FLASH radiation therapy calls for the delivery of fast bursted spills of particles with dose delivery times of the order of milliseconds. The requirements overlap with fundamental physics experimental requests that are being studied at CERN, albeit at very different energy scales. In this contribution, a scheme for extracting millisecond bursts from synchrotrons is explored by controlling a third-integer resonant and chromatic extraction with RF phase displacement acceleration. The scheme would be implementable in existing medical and experimental synchrotron facilities. Using a model of the CERN Proton Synchrotron, both single-burst and multi-burst extractions are simulated. Results show that 80−90% of the total beam intensity is extracted in a single burst of 40−60ms. This would correspond to a ∼10ms burst in a typical medical synchrotron, namely the one outlined in the Proton Ion Medical Machine Study. A set of 3 consecutive bursts of 30ms was simulated in the Proton Synchrotron with optimised machine parameters.