Apparatus for injecting charged particles into the magnetic field of a cyclic particle accelerator

Claim 1

IN A CYCLIC PARTICLE ACCELERATOR, IN COMBINATION: (A) ELECTROMAGNETIC MEANS FOR GENERATING A MAGNETIC GUIDING FIELD, (1) SAID FIELD DEFINING AN ARCUATE ORBITAL PATH FOR ELECTRICALLY CHARGED PARTICLES; (B) A SOURCE OF A BEAM OF ELECTRICALLY CHARGED ACCELERATED PARTICLES, (1) SAID SOURCE BEING OUTSIDE SAID FIELD, AND (2) SAID BEAM HAVING AN AXIS SUBSTANTIALLY TANGENTIAL TO SAID PATH; (C) A TUBULAR INJECTOR MEMBER OF MAGNETICALLY SOFT FERROMAGNETIC MATERIAL ELONGATED IN THE DIRECTION OF SAID AXIS, (1) A LONGITUDINAL PORTION OF SAID MEMBER BEING IN SAID FIELD, (2) SAID MEMBER ENVELOPING A PORTION OF SAID BEAM EXTENDING FROM A REGION ADJACENT SAID SOURCE TO A PORTION OF SAID FIELD ADJACENT SAID PATH, (3) SAID SOURCE BEING ADAPTED TO GENERATE SAID BEAM IN AN INJECTION PULSE OF LIMITED DURATION, AND SAID INJECTION MEMBER BEING DIMENSIONED TO REACH MAGNETIC SATURATION IN SAID FIELD IN A TIME NOT SUBSTANTIALLY EXCEEDING SAID PERIOD, (4) SAID PORTION OF SAID INJECTOR MEMBER BEING ADAPTED TO DEFORM SAID FILED DURING THE DURATION OF SAID PULSE; AND (D) COMPENSATING MEANS FOR COMPENSATING THE DEFORMING EFFECT OF SAID INJECTOR MEMBER ON SAID FIELD.