Superconducting cyclotron

Claim 2

An isochronous cyclotron for heavy or light ions comprising: a. a superconducting coil system for producing a strong magnetic field in the air core centrally of the coils, b. an even number of pairs, at least four in number, of generally flat sectoral conducting plates, alternate pairs of which are at low or ground potential and the other pairs are connected to an RF voltage supply, mounted on tunable quarter wavelength resonator structures and defining an annular orbital region between the plates in the pairs and ion accelerating gaps between the edges of the pairs of plates and positioned in and generally orthogonal to the magnetic field in the central air core region, c. means for energizing said plates with an RF voltage such that orbiting ions will be accelerated between the gaps, d. means for injecting the ions to be accelerated into an inner position in the orbital region, e. means for extracting the accelerated ions at an orbit location adjacent the periphery of the orbital region, and f. means for varying the magnetic field in the radial direction to provide radial focussing of the orbiting ion beam.

Claim 3

An isochronous cyclotron for heavy or light ions comprising: a. a superconducting coil system for producing a strong magnetic field in the air core centrally of the coils, b. an even number of pairs, at least four in number, of generally flat sectoral conducting plates, alternate pair of which are at low or ground potential and the other pairs are connected to an RF voltage supply, defining an annular orbital region between the plates in the pairs and ion accelerating gaps between the edges of the pairs of plates and positioned in and generally orthogonal to the magnetic field in the central air core region, wherein the pairs of sectoral plates at ground or low voltage have associated and mounted adjacent to them pairs of shaped ferrous material structures, said pairs of structures being positioned in the magnetic field and as opposing pairs on each side of the orbital region such as to become saturated in the magnetic field and increase the magnetic field between them and thus providing a flutter pole axial focussing effect to the orbiting ions, c. means for energizing said plates with an RF voltage such that orbiting ions will be accelerated between the gaps, d. means for injecting the ions to be accelerated into an inner position in the orbital region, e. means for extracting the accelerated ions at an orbit location adjacent the periphery of the orbital region, and f. means for varying the magnetic field in the radial direction to provide radial focussing of the orbiting ion beam.

Claim 4

An isochronous cyclotron for heavy or light ions comprising: a. a superconducting coil system for producing a strong magnetic field in the air core centrally of the coils, b. an even number of pairs, at least four in number, of generally flat sectoral conducting plates, alternate pair of which are at low or ground potential and the other pairs are connected to an RF voltage supply, defining an annular orbital region between the plates in the pairs and ion accelerating gaps between the edges of the pairs of plates and positioned in and generally orthogonal to the magnetic field in the central air core region, wherein the pairs of sectoral plates at ground or low voltage have associated and mounted adjacent to them pairs of shaped ferrous material structures, said pairs of structures being positioned in the magnetic field and as opposing pairs on each side of the orbital region such as to become saturated in the magnetic field and increase the magnetic field between them and thus providing a flutter pole axial focussing effect to the orbiting ions, c. means for energizing said plates with an RF voltage such that orbiting ions will be accelerated between the gaps, d. means for injecting the ions to be accelerated into an inner position in the orbital region, e. means for extracting the accelerated ions at an orbit location adjacent the periphery of the orbital region, and f. means for varying the magnetic field in the radial direction to provide radial focussing of the orbiting ion beam.

Claim 5

An isochronous cyclotron for heavy or light ions comprising: a. a superconducting coil system for producing a strong magnetic field in the air core centrally of the coils, b. eight pairs of generally flat sectoral conducting plates defining an annular ion orbital region between the opposing plates in the pairs and ions accelerating gaps between the edges of the pairs of plates and position in a ring and generally orthogonal to the magnetic field in the central air core region, c. means for energizing said plates with an RF voltage such that orbiting ions will be accelerAted between the gaps, d. means for injecting the ions to be accelerated into an inner position in the orbital region, e. means for extracting the accelerated ions at an orbit location adjacent the periphery of the orbital region, f. trim coils mounted above and below the beam orbiting region to adjust the magnetic field shape in the air core region and provide an accurately isochronous radial profile, and g. four pairs of shaped ferrous material structures positioned in the magnetic field in the air core region and as a ring of opposing pairs on each side of the orbital region such as to become saturated in the magnetic field and increase the magnetic field between structures in the pairs and thus providing an axial focussing effect to the orbiting ions.

Claim 6

An isochronous cyclotron for heavy or light ions comprising: a. a superconducting coil system for producing a strong magnetic field in the air core centrally of the coils, b. eight pairs of generally flat sectoral conducting plates defining an annular ion orbital region between the opposing plates in the pairs and ions accelerating gaps between the edges of the pairs of plates and position in a ring and generally orthogonal to the magnetic field in the central air core region, c. means for energizing said plates with an RF voltage such that orbiting ions will be accelerAted between the gaps, d. means for injecting the ions to be accelerated into an inner position in the orbital region, e. means for extracting the accelerated ions at an orbit location adjacent the periphery of the orbital region, f. trim coils mounted above and below the beam orbiting region to adjust the magnetic field shape in the air core region and provide an accurately isochronous radial profile, and g. four pairs of shaped ferrous material structures positioned in the magnetic field in the air core region and as a ring of opposing pairs on each side of the orbital region such as to become saturated in the magnetic field and increase the magnetic field between structures in the pairs and thus providing an axial focussing effect to the orbiting ions.

Claim 7

An isochronous cyclotron as in claim 3 wherein the coil arrangement is made up of a first pair of superconducting coil firmly mounted in spaced axial relation and a second pair of superconducting coils of smaller cross-section and diameter mounted radially inward of the first pair.

Claim 8

An isochronous cyclotron as in claim 3 wherein the ferrous material is an iron containing metal.

Claim 9

An isochronous cyclotron as in claim 3 wherein four alternate pairs of the sectoral plates are connected via tunable quarter-wave resonators to the RF supply and the interleaved remaining four pairs of plates are connected to ground or low potential and have the four pairs of shaped ferrous material structures positioned adjacent to their surfaces away from the orbital region.

Claim 10

An isochronous cyclotron for heavy or light ions comprising: a. a first pair of superconducting coils firmly mounted in spaced axial relation, b. a second pair of superconducting coils of smaller cross-section and diameter mounted radially inward of the first pair, said first and second pairs of coils capable of producing a strong unidirectional magnetic field in the air core region centrally of the coils, c. eight pairs of generally flat sectoral conducting plates defining an annular ion orbital region between the opposing plates in the pairs and ion accelerating gaps between adjacent edges of the pairs of plates and positioned in a ring in and generally orthogonal to the magnetic field in the central air core region, d. two tunable quarter-wave resonators electrically connected to an RF power supply and to four alternate pairs of said plates such that orbiting ions between the plates will be accelerated between the gaps, said resonators being turned to either the 0-mode or pi -mode resonance either in phase of 180* out of phase to provide two accelerating modes of operation, e. means for injecting the ions to be accelerated into an inner position in the orbital region, said means including a stripper foil for changing the charge state on incoming ions, f. means for extracting accelerated ions at an orbit location adjacent the periphery of the orbital region, said means including capacitor plates carrying a potential such as to deflect the ion beam outwardly from the orbit region, g. trim coils mounted above and below the beam space to adjust the magnetic field in the radial sense to provide an accurately isochronous radial field variation, h. four pairs of shaped ferrous material structures positioned in the magnetic field in the air core region and as a ring of opposing pairs on each side of the orbital region such as to be magnetically saturable in the magnetic field and provide a fixed increase in the magnetic field between structures in the pairs and thus an axial focussing effect to the orbiting ions, i. each of said structures being positioned adjacent to each plate of the remaining alternate pairs of said sectoral plates, said plates being connected to ground or low potential, j. each of said structures being enclosed in conducting material to shield them from RF effects and having at least one spiral shaped edge, said spiral shape being predetermined for optiMum axial focussing.

Claim 11

An isochronous cyclotron for heavy or light ions comprising: a. a first pair of superconducting coils firmly mounted in spaced axial relation, b. a second pair of superconducting coils of smaller cross-section and diameter mounted radially inward of the first pair, said first and second pairs of coils capable of producing a strong unidirectional magnetic field in the air core region centrally of the coils, c. eight pairs of generally flat sectoral conducting plates defining an annular ion orbital region between the opposing plates in the pairs and ion accelerating gaps between adjacent edges of the pairs of plates and positioned in a ring in and generally orthogonal to the magnetic field in the central air core region, d. two tunable quarter-wave resonators electrically connected to an RF power supply and to four alternate pairs of said plates such that orbiting ions between the plates will be accelerated between the gaps, said resonators being turned to either the 0-mode or pi -mode resonance either in phase of 180* out of phase to provide two accelerating modes of operation, e. means for injecting the ions to be accelerated into an inner position in the orbital region, said means including a stripper foil for changing the charge state on incoming ions, f. means for extracting accelerated ions at an orbit location adjacent the periphery of the orbital region, said means including capacitor plates carrying a potential such as to deflect the ion beam outwardly from the orbit region, g. trim coils mounted above and below the beam space to adjust the magnetic field in the radial sense to provide an accurately isochronous radial field variation, h. four pairs of shaped ferrous material structures positioned in the magnetic field in the air core region and as a ring of opposing pairs on each side of the orbital region such as to be magnetically saturable in the magnetic field and provide a fixed increase in the magnetic field between structures in the pairs and thus an axial focussing effect to the orbiting ions, i. each of said structures being positioned adjacent to each plate of the remaining alternate pairs of said sectoral plates, said plates being connected to ground or low potential, j. each of said structures being enclosed in conducting material to shield them from RF effects and having at least one spiral shaped edge, said spiral shape being predetermined for optiMum axial focussing.