Fixed Field Alternating Gradient Research Articles

Heavy Ion Injection of Fixed-Field Alternating Gradient Accelerator

Abstract Much research in recent years has focused on circular accelerators that accelerate and store secondary particles with a large momentum spread, such as muons, unstable nuclei, and heavy ions with different charge states. A fixed-field alternating gradient (FFAG) accelerator with large transverse and momentum acceptance has obvious advantages for such requirements. A versatile beam injection method is required to accelerate secondary particles with a large momentum spread and different charge states with an FFAG accelerator. In the present study, a method for charge exchange injection of positive heavy ions using the large momentum acceptance of an FFAG accelerator is proposed. A charge injection system, which converts a He1+ beam to a He2+ beam, is developed for a 150 MeV FFAG accelerator at the Center for Accelerator and Beam Applied Science (CABAS) of Kyushu University. As the first step to verify the injection method, an orbit shift from one charge state to the other is demonstrated. This is the first demonstration of heavy ion injection using an FFAG accelerator.

Progress Toward TURBO: A Novel Beam Delivery System for Charged Particle Therapy

TURBO – Technology for Ultra Rapid Beam Operation – is a novel beam delivery system (BDS) in development at the University of Melbourne. The BDS determines several aspects of treatment delivery where a key bottleneck is the deadtime associated with beam energy variation. Beamlines at treatment facilities have a ±1% momentum acceptance range, requiring all the magnetic fields to adjust to deliver different energy beams at multiple depths in the tumour volume. A BDS using Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFA) optics could reduce the energy layer switching time (ELST) by enabling the transport of a large range of beam energies within the same fixed fields. We present recent progress and ongoing developments with TURBO, a proof-of-concept demonstrator adapted for low energy protons. Characterisation measurements were performed to determine realistic parameters for beam transport and particle tracking modelling. Simulation and experimental studies are shown for an energy degrader. We mention considerations of canted-cosine-theta magnets and further work to explore the clinical feasibility of a scaled-up BDS for charged particle therapy.

TURBO: A novel beam delivery system enabling rapid depth scanning for charged particle therapy

Charged particle therapy (CPT) is a well-established modality of cancer treatment and is increasing in worldwide presence due to improved accelerator technology and modern techniques. The beam delivery system (BDS) determines the overall timing and beam shaping capabilities, but is restricted by the energy variation speed: energy layer switching time (ELST). Existing treatment beamlines have a ±1% momentum acceptance range, needing time to change the magnetic fields as the beam is delivered in layers at various depths across the tumour volume. Minimising the ELST can enable the delivery of faster, more effective and advanced treatments but requires an improved BDS. A possibility for this could be achieved with a design using Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFA) optics, enabling a large energy acceptance to rapidly transport beams of varying energies. A scaled-down, novel system – Technology for Ultra Rapid Beam Operation (TURBO) – is being developed at the University of Melbourne, to explore the potential of rapid depth scanning. Initial simulation studies, beam and field measurements, project plans and clinical considerations are discussed.

Measurement of double-differential neutron yields for iron, lead, and bismuth induced by 107-MeV protons for research and development of accelerator-driven systems

For the research and development of accelerator-driven systems (ADSs) and fundamental ADS reactor physics research using the Kyoto University Critical Assembly combined with the fixed-field alternating gradient (FFAG) accelerator, we are conducting a series of experiments on double-differential neutron yields using the FFAG accelerator at Kyoto University. This paper presents an overview of the experiments together with preliminary results.

Fabrication and Test of a 1:4 Scaled HTS Coil for the Defocusing Magnet of 2 GeV FFAG Accelerator

The basic design of a 2 GeV fixed field alternating gradient (FFAG) accelerator was proposed by China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) in 2019. A preliminary study of high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet for the 2 GeV FFAG accelerator lattice scheme was carried out, considering the beam loss of high energy proton beams and energy efficiency of the main machine. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of manufacturing a spiral-shaped HTS magnet with concave edges based on ReBCO tapes, a 1:4 scaled HTS model magnet is being developed in CIAE. First, the design and fabrication of the 1:4 scaled prototype HTS magnet with concave edges will be described in detail. Then, each double pancake (DP) was tested by liquid nitrogen (LN) immersion. The terminal voltage and magnetic field variation were measured and simulated. Finally, the whole assembled HTS magnet was cooled down to 23 K using helium gas pipeline contact cooling and operated on 300 A for over 24 hours. The central magnetic field reached 719.5 mT, without iron. More detailed electromagnetic characteristics of the magnet during the excitation will be illustrated, which is much helpful for the fabrication of the final full-size HTS magnets.

Coupling Design of Combined Function Bending Magnet and High Current Electron Beam for 100 kW Irradiation Accelerator

RF system is one of the key components of a 2 GeV, 6 MW high power fixed field alternating gradient (FFAG) accelerator being designed at China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE). In order to verify the design principle and the engineering feasibility, a scaled-down RF cavity is under construction, which can also be used as the main accelerating cavity for a 100 kW electron irradiation accelerator. By the deflections of several 180 degrees bending magnets, the electrons emitted from the electron gun can pass the cavity for multiple times. Due to the limited length of the cavity, the deflection radius should be as small as possible to ensure more acceleration times and consequently higher beam power, which will make the fringe field effect of the bending magnet be a problem. In addition, the bending magnet should provide beam focusing in both the radial and axial directions of the beam and keep the beam envelope stable during the whole acceleration process. Based on the above reasons, the parameters of the combined function bending magnet, such as the pole face rotations (Liu, 1994), magnetic field gradient and shielding distance, have a great influence on the beam dynamics behavior in the accelerator, which bring great difficulty to the design of the combined function bending magnet. In this paper, the coupling design of the bending magnet with focusing function and the high intensity electron beam for this 100 kW irradiation accelerator will be illustrated in detail.

Superconducting Curved Canted–Cosine–Theta (CCT) for the HIE-ISOLDE Recoil Separator Ring at CERN

The ISOLDE facility at CERN delivers the largest range of low-energy radioactive beams, exploited by several detector systems to investigate nuclear properties from the stable isotopes to the very exotic systems close to the neutron or proton drip lines. These studies can largely benefit from the use of a high-resolution fragment separator. To achieve this goal, an innovative spectrometer based on a compact superconducting (SC) ring, the Isolde Superconducting Recoil Separator (ISRS), is being studied. The ring will operate as an isochronous non-scaling fixed-field alternating-gradient (FFAG) system based on Canted-Cosine-Theta (CCT) magnets. These multifunction magnets have two alternating-gradient quadrupoles nested inside an outer dipole. According to preliminary beam dynamics studies, the dipole will need to generate a maximum field of 2.2 T. A maximum quadrupole gradient of approximately 14 T/m will guarantee orbit stability for heavy ions with a maximum kinetic energy of 10 MeV/u. Fine tuning of the CCT magnets and the FFAG optics will provide very large solid angles > 100 msr and momentum acceptances Δp/p > 20%. In this paper we present, the magnet designs and their optimisation. A cost-effective active stray field superconducting coil shield design has been introduced to be able to remove approximate 4000 kg of iron yoke and the complexity of building a tightly curved yoke.

Preliminary Study of a Large Energy Acceptance FFA Beam Delivery System for Particle Therapy

The availability and use of ion beams for radiotherapy has grown significantly, led by technological developments to exploit the dosimetric advantages offered by charged particles. The benefits of particle therapy (PT) are well identified however its utilisation is still limited by high facility costs and technological challenges. A possibility to address both of these can be considered by improvements to the beam delivery system (BDS). Existing beamlines and gantries transport beams with a momentum range of ±1% and consequently, adjustments in depth or beam energy require all the magnetic fields to be changed. The speed to switch energies is a limiting constraint of the BDS and a determinant of the overall treatment time. A novel concept using fixed field alternating gradient (FFA) optics enables a large energy acceptance (LEA) as beams of varying energies can traverse the beamline at multiple physical positions given the same magnetic field. This presents the potential to provide faster, higher quality treatments at lower costs, with the capability to deliver advanced PT techniques such as multi-ion therapy. We explore the applicability and benefits of a LEA BDS.

Preliminary Study of the High Temperature Superconducting Solution for 2 GeV CW FFAG Magnet

Proton beam with an average power of 5 MW-10 MW have important applications in particle physics towards the intensity frontier, as well as in the advanced energy, and material science. The fixed field alternating gradient (FFAG) accelerator combines the advantages of existing accelerators, which has a higher limitation of beam energy than high power cyclotron and has a higher beam-to-grid efficiency than existing high power linac and synchrotron, thus is considered as a good candidate for high power proton machine. By utilizing the strong focusing and large acceptance features of FFAG in the theoretical framework of the fixed field and fixed frequency of isochronous cyclotron, a continue wave FFAG capable of producing 2 GeV/3 mA protons (with an beam power of 6 MW) has been proposed in China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE). Due to the beam loss of high power proton beams, the resulting high radiation will deposit a large amount of radiation dose and heat load on the superconducting (SC) magnet. As the high temperature superconductors (HTS) have a much larger thermal margin due to high critical temperature (> 90 K) and high upper critical field (>100 T) than the traditional low temperature superconductors, and have been also considered have the lower overall construction costs and power consumption than the conventional magnet, currently the HTS magnet is the favorable solution for the 2 GeV FFAG magnet design. In this paper, the lattice design along with the requirements on the F-D-F magnet of the 2 GeV FFAG design is briefly introduced first. Then, the design of the F-D-F magnet is outlined. The details of the HTS coil design utilizing ReBCO conductor and operating at ~30 K is also included.

Coherent synchrotron radiation wake expressions with two bending magnets and simulation results for a multiturn energy-recovery linac

This paper consists of two main parts regarding coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR). The first part extends the CSR theory of two particle interaction from a system of one bending magnet to two bending magnets, where the wake can leak from the first to the second. The new theory agrees well with the established simulation code Bmad. The second part of the paper presents the CSR simulation results on CBETA, the Cornell BNL Energy-Recovery-Linac (ERL) Test Accelerator, in which the magnets are so close to each other and the new extended theory becomes important. CBETA is the first multiturn ERL with superconducting radio frequency (SRF) accelerating cavities and a Fixed Field Alternating gradient (FFA) beamline. Simulations show that CSR causes phase space dilution that becomes more significant as the bunch charge and the number of recirculation passes increase. Potential ways to mitigate the CSR effects, including adding vacuum chamber shielding and increasing bunch length, are being investigated.

Conceptual design of a novel and compact superconducting recoil separator for radioactive isotopes

The recent development of radioactive beam facilities, such as the HIE-ISOLDE facility at CERN, has significantly expanded the capabilities for investigating the structure of the atomic nucleus and the nuclear interaction. All these studies require an efficient and high-resolution recoil separator for the unambiguous identification of medium and large mass reaction fragments. In order to meet such needs, a versatile recoil separator for radioisotopes based on a compact superconducting (SC) Fixed-Field Alternating-Gradient (FFAG) ring has been designed. It is based on a mini-ring of approximately 3.5 m circumference formed by superconducting combined function magnets with both the bending and focusing/defocusing functions. This machine will be able to operate with light and heavy radioisotopes and separate the reaction fragments from the main beam by radiofrequency gymnastics. It also presents the advantage of significantly reducing the size with respect to standard non-SC recoil separator configurations. In this article, the first design of this FFAG based recoil separator is presented, and first beam dynamics simulation results are discussed.

Simulation of the CBETA 4-pass FFAG ERL using field maps — exclusively

The Cornell-BNL Electron Test Accelerator (CBETA), a four-pass, 150 MeV energy recovery linac (ERL), is now in construction at Cornell. Commissioning commenced on March 2019. A particularity of CBETA is that a single channel loop recirculates the four energies (42, 78, 114 and 150 MeV). The return loop arcs are based on fixed-field alternating gradient (FFAG) optics. The loop is comprised of 107 quadrupole-doublet cells, built using Halbach permanent magnet technology. Spreader and combiner sections (4 independent beam lines each) connect the 36 MeV linac to the FFAG arcs. We introduce here a start-to-end simulation of the 4-pass ERL, based entirely, and exclusively, on the use of magnetic field maps to model the optical components.

Development of proton beam irradiation system for small animals using FFAG accelerator

To evaluate the biological effect of boron compounds on normal tissues in boron neutron capture therapy, it is necessary to compare the radiation effects of neutron irradiation and gamma ray irradiation on small animals in nonclinical studies. Neutron beams and gamma rays are difficult to collimate; thus, it is impossible to administer a dose on each part of the normal tissues of small animals. Therefore, we have developed a method to compare biological effects by irradiating neutrons and gamma rays after irradiating a proton beam to the point just before the threshold dose at which the biological effects occur. We aim to develop an irradiation field that irradiates proton beams locally using a fixed-field alternating-gradient (FFAG) accelerator and a small ridge filter.An aluminum scatterer, transmission dose monitor, ridge filter, range shifter, collimator, and a proton beam from the FFAG accelerator were used to form an irradiation field with a spread out Bragg peak (SOBP) with a length of 10 mm and a size of 10 mm2.Dose measurement was performed using a Gafchromic film and an ionization chamber. The irradiation system was simulated using the PHITS Monte Carlo simulation code, and simulation results were compared with experimental results.We succeeded in forming an irradiation field with a dose rate of 14.3 ± 0.24 Gy/min, an SOBP length of 10 mm, and a size of 10 mm2.

Magnetic-Field Analysis of the Asymmetric Quadrupole for the FFAG Accelerator

We proposed a quadrupole magnet with an asymmetric coil for a nonscaling fixed-field alternatinggradient (NS-FFAG) accelerator. The proposed magnet has a nonlinear magnetic field with the same geometric characteristics as a conventional quadrupole. This nonlinear magnetic field was confirmed to afford beam stability in a ring-type accelerator. In this paper, a magnetic-field analysis using POISSON SUPERFISH to evaluate the generation of the desired nonlinear magnetic field in the 2D geometry of the asymmetric quadrupole magnet for an electron ring is reported. In addition, the magnetic field of the asymmetric quadrupole is compared with that of a conventional quadrupole in an NS-FFAG accelerator.

Beam-Breakup Studies for the 4-Pass Cornell-Brookhaven Energy-Recovery Linac Test Accelerator

The Cornell Brookhaven Energy Recovery Linac (ERL) Test Accelerator (CBETA) [1] is currently under construction at Cornell University’s Wilson Laboratory. The primary structures in CBETA for beam recirculation include the Main Linac Cryomodule (MLC) and the Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFAG) beamline. As the electron bunches pass through the MLC cavities, higher order modes (HOMs) are excited. The recirculating bunches in turn excite HOMs further, and this feedback loop can give rise to beam breakup instability (BBU). We will first explain how BBU occurs and how we simulate the effect. Then we present the simulation results on how BBU limits the maximum achievable current of CBETA, and the potential ways to improve the threshold current.

Racetrack FFAG muon decay ring for nuSTORM with triplet focusing

The neutrino beam produced from muons decaying in a storage ring would be an ideal tool for precise neutrino cross section measurements and the search for sterile neutrinos due to its precisely known flavour content and spectrum. In the proposed nuSTORM facility, pions would be directly injected into a racetrack storage ring, where the circulating muon beam would be captured. In this paper we show that a muon decay ring based on a racetrack scaling FFAG (Fixed Field Alternating Gradient) with triplet focusing structures is a very promising option with potential advantages over the FODO based solution. We discuss the ring concept, machine parameters, linear optics design, beam dynamics and the injection system.

Scaling Fixed-Field Alternating-Gradient Accelerators with Reverse Bend and Spiral Edge Angle.

A novel scaling type of fixed-field alternating-gradient (FFAG) accelerator is proposed that solves the major problems of conventional scaling FFAGs. This scaling FFAG accelerator combines reverse bending magnets of the radial sector type and a spiral edge angle of the spiral sector type to ensure sufficient vertical focusing without relying on extreme values of either parameter. This new concept makes it possible to design a scaling FFAG for high energy (above GeV range) applications such as a proton driver for a spallation neutron source and an accelerator driven subcritical reactor.

Main Magnets and Correctors for the CBETA and eRHIC Projects, and Hadron Facilities

The CBETA (Cornell Brookhaven Experimental Test Accelerator) project described in reference C. Mayes (2015) is a prototype electron accelerator for the proposed eRHIC (electron Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) project, described in reference E. C. Aschenauer (2014). An Energy Recovery Linac (ERL) in combination with a recirculating beam line which is based on the Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFAG) principle constitute the electron accelerator. The FFAG beam line of the electron accelerator is comprised of cells consisting of one focusing and one defocusing quadrupoles which are designed as Halbach type permanent magnet quadrupoles which are discussed in reference K. Halbach (1980). Window frame electromagnets surrounding the Halbach magnets will be used as normal and skew dipoles correctors and quadrupole correctors. A Halbach magnet in combination with low field electromagnets to act as dipole and/or quadrupole correctors can also be used in the proposed eRHIC project as well as other hadrons facilities like RHIC. We will discuss some of the advantages the Halbach type permanent magnets have over electromagnets and provide experimental and theoretical evidence of these advantages.

Characterization techniques for fixed-field alternating gradient accelerators and beam studies using the KURRI 150 MeV proton FFAG

In this paper we describe the methods and tools used to characterize a 150 MeV proton scaling Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFAG) accelerator at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute. Many of the techniques used are unique to this class of machine and are thus of relevance to any future FFAG accelerator. For the first time we detail systematic studies under- taken to improve the beam quality of the FFAG. The control of beam quality in this manner is crucial to demonstrating high power operation of FFAG accelerators in future.

Design and Magnetic Field Analyses of Spiral Sector Magnet in an FFAG Accelerator for Carbon Cancer Therapy

We designed a coil-dominated magnet wound with coated conductors for a spiral sector fixed-field alternating-gradient (FFAG) accelerator for carbon cancer therapy. The magnet consisted of deformed pancake coils with negative bends. Coils were arranged similar to a ladder to generate the required radial profile of magnetic field. The positions and the number of turns of the coils were iteratively adjusted to reduce the magnetic field error. We carried out numerical electromagnetic field analyses of the designed magnet to evaluate the influence of coated-conductor magnetization (screening or shielding current) on its field quality.