Practical Issues in Cyclotron Design and Construction

Sponsoring University:

Stony Brook University

Course Name:

Practical Issues in Cyclotron Design and Construction

Instructors:

Tim Koeth, Brian Beaudoin and Amber Johnson; University of Maryland.

Purpose and Audience
Cyclotrons are versatile accelerators whose use continues to expand in basic research, industry, medicine, and education. This course provides students with an introduction to the physics and technology of cyclotrons and their design. Issues associated with the construction of practical facilities for prototypical applications are reviewed. The level is suitable for graduate students and senior undergraduate students in physics and engineering as well as scientists, engineers, technicians, operators, and others associated with cyclotron operations.

Prerequisites
Undergraduate Classical Mechanics and Electrodynamics at the junior level or higher. Familiarity with accelerator science and technology at the level of USPAS Fundamentals of Accelerator Physics and Technology with Simulations and Measurements Lab is strongly recommended. Students taking this course are encouraged to enroll in the one-week course Cyclotrons: Beam Dynamics and Design during the first week of this USPAS session.

It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they meet the course prerequisites or have equivalent experience.

Objectives
The objectives of this course are:

1) Understand the physical principles of modern cyclotrons.

2) Be able to describe the technology of all major cyclotron subsystems, such as magnetic systems, ion sources and beam injection, rf, vacuum, extraction, and diagnostics.

3) Use modeling tools to design and analyze a cyclotron.

4) Be aware of practical issues impacting construction of a working facility .

Upon completion of this course, students are expected to apply cyclotron theory and practical constraints to propose a complete cyclotron design for a prototypical application.

Instructional Method
This course will be comprised of morning lectures, afternoon computer-based design labs and demonstrations. The lectures will incorporate real-life examples taken from operational cyclotrons. Practical construction constraints will be overviewed. The afternoon labs will begin with a tutorial of the simulation tools we will use to demonstrate cyclotron design. Daily assigned problem sets should be completed outside of scheduled class sessions. Instructors will be available for help in the evenings.  As a final project, students will carry out a cyclotron design project and present their results to the class.

Course Content
This course will cover theoretical and practical aspects of cyclotrons and their design emphasizing practical issues and their impact on application design. This includes magnetic resonance [cyclotron] acceleration, ion sources, weak and Azimuthally Varying Field (AVF) beam focusing, and beam extraction methods. Conventional and superconducting magnets and the measurements necessary for their design verification will be discussed. Relevant technology of cyclotron radio frequency acceleration and vacuum systems will be reviewed. Limiting factors in operation will also be discussed, such as resonances and space charge. Students will receive guidance and hands on experience with simulation tools in the design of their own cyclotron.

Reading Requirements
(To be provided by the USPAS) John Jacob Livingood, Principles of Cyclic Particle Accelerators (D. Van Nostrand Company Inc, 1961). Additional material will be provided by the instructors.

Credit Requirements
Students will be evaluated based on performance: final project (approximately 34% of grade), daily homework assignments (approximately 33% of grade), and daily experiment/simulations (approximately 33% of grade).