The BEVALAC: high-energy heavy-ion beams for biomedical research

Abstract

The BEVALAC is a compound accelerator consisting of the HILAC and the BEVATRON, for the purpose of obtaining large intensities of high-energy heavy ions. Biomedical facilities including irradiation caves for physical, biological and medical research are intended to be available as a national facility. High-energy heavy-ion beams have already been shown (at the PPA and the Bevatron) to have physical characteristics useful for biomedical investigations, including a high sharp Bragg peak, good depth-dose characteristics, high-LET, very low contamination and nuclear fragmentation cross-sections which do not 'spoil' the beam for lesion production or possible tumour irradiation deep in tissue. Several new applications to radiological physics are being studied, including radioactive beams, autoactivation for locating the beam track. and heavy ion radiography, tomography and laminography.