Narrow Results

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) Project has entered the phase of beam commissioning starting from the room-temperature front end and the superconducting linac segment of first 15 cryomodules. With the newly commissioned helium refrigeration system supplying 4.5K liquid helium to the quarter-wave resonators and solenoids, the FRIB accelerator team achieved the sectional key performance parameters as designed ahead of schedule accelerating heavy ion beams above 20MeV/u energy. Thus, FRIB accelerator becomes world’s highest-energy heavy ion linear accelerator. We also validated machine protection and personnel protection systems that will be crucial to the next phase of commissioning. FRIB is on track towards a national user facility at the power frontier with a beam power two orders of magnitude higher than operating heavy-ion facilities. This paper summarizes the status of accelerator design, technology development, construction, commissioning as well as path to operations and upgrades.

An overview is given on key physics, detector and accelerator aspects of the LHeC including its further development with emphasis to its role as the cleanest microscope of parton dynamics and a precision Higgs facility.

The use of radiofrequency linacs for hadrontherapy was proposed about 20 years ago, but only recently has it been understood that the high repetition rate together with the possibility of very rapid energy variations offers an optimal solution to the present challenge of hadrontherapy: “paint” a moving tumor target in three dimensions with a pencil beam. Moreover, the fact that the energy, and thus the particle range, can be electronically adjusted implies that no absorber-based energy selection system is needed, which, in the case of cyclotron-based centers, is the cause of material activation. On the other side, a linac consumes less power than a synchrotron. The first part of this article describes the main advantages of high frequency linacs in hadrontherapy, the early design studies, and the construction and test of the first high-gradient prototype which accelerated protons. The second part illustrates some technical issues relevant to the design of copper standing wave accelerators, the present developments, and two designs of linac-based proton and carbon ion facilities. Superconductive linacs are not discussed, since nanoampere currents are sufficient for therapy. In the last two sections, a comparison with circular accelerators and an overview of future projects are presented.

The use of radiofrequency linacs for hadrontherapy was proposed about 20 years ago, but only recently has it been understood that the high repetition rate together with the possibility of very rapid energy variations offers an optimal solution to the present challenge of hadrontherapy: "paint" a moving tumor target in three dimensions with a pencil beam. Moreover, the fact that the energy, and thus the particle range, can be electronically adjusted implies that no absorber-based energy selection system is needed, which, in the case of cyclotron-based centers, is the cause of material activation. On the other side, a linac consumes less power than a synchrotron. The first part of this article describes the main advantages of high frequency linacs in hadrontherapy, the early design studies, and the construction and test of the first high-gradient prototype which accelerated protons. The second part illustrates some technical issues relevant to the design of copper standing wave accelerators, the present developments, and two designs of linac-based proton and carbon ion facilities. Superconductive linacs are not discussed, since nanoampere currents are sufficient for therapy. In the last two sections, a comparison with circular accelerators and an overview of future projects are presented.

Particle therapy is the expanding radiotherapy treatment option of choice for cancer. Its cost, however, is currently hindering its worldwide expansion. Also, the ideal application of particle therapy is restricted by a series of unsolved technical challenges. Both the cost and technical limitations are directly traceable to dependence on legacy accelerators and their associated treatment possibilities. This chapter is written to address these needs. Firstly, a technical overview is presented of photon and particle therapy for cancer tumours. Secondly, the underlying limitations of the existing legacy systems are identified, especially those related to accelerators, and suggestions are made for current and future developments to address these shortcomings. The legacy systems referred to here are of the slow scanning variety using large, circular accelerators.

This paper also attempts to make a scientific comparison of the various types of accelerators currently used or being developed for particle therapy.

The following procedure is pursued to perform a comparison between various types of accelerators:

• ⁽¹⁾The parameters which are pertinent to particle therapy accelerators (‘specified parameters’) are identified from clinical efficiency and overall cost considerations.
• ⁽²⁾The range and values of ‘specified parameters’ associated with each type of particle therapy accelerator are identified.
• ⁽³⁾A comparison is made on the best match between the various types of accelerators for each of the ‘specified parameters,’ i.e., the best in class accelerator, when compared to each criterion.
• ⁽⁴⁾Based on this match, an overall conclusion is made on the type of accelerator which best fits the needs for particle therapy.

Cargo inspection by X-rays has become essential for seaports and airports. With the emphasis on homeland security issues, the identification of dangerous things, such as explosive items and nuclear materials, is the key feature of a cargo inspection system. And new technologies based on dual energy X-rays, neutrons and monoenergetic X-rays have been studied to achieve sufficiently good material identification. An interpretation of the principle of X-ray cargo inspection technology and the features of X-ray sources are presented in this article. As most of the X-ray sources are based on RF electron linear accelerators (linacs), we give a relatively detailed description of the principle and characteristics of linacs. Cargo inspection technologies based on neutron imaging, neutron analysis, nuclear resonance fluorescence and computer tomography are also mentioned here. The main vendors and their products are summarized at the end of the article.

A proposal has been made for the construction of a new generation of high-luminosity electron-positron colliders known as the Super Tau-Charm Facility (STCF) in China. The STCF aims to achieve a luminosity exceeding $0.5\times 10^{35}$cm${}^{-2}$s${}^{-1}$ and will operate within a center-of-mass energy range of 2 to 7GeV. Given the design challenges of the STCF collider ring, swap-out injection has been proposed as an alternative method for achieving the desired luminosity. Consequently, the STCF injector will explore both off-axis injection and swap-out injection methods concurrently. This paper will detail the ongoing research progress on these two injection techniques.

The European Spallation Source (ESS), which is established as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), is a multi-disciplinary research facility that is currently under construction. ESS has as vision to develop to a world class facility, enabling scientific breakthroughs in research related to materials, energy, health and the environment. The ESS facility is built by a collaboration of some 100 research institutes and universities.

With its 5 MW average beam power, its linac will be the most powerful linac of all neutron spallation sources. Neutrons are obtained by delivering 2 GeV protons at a repetition rate of 14 Hz to the He-cooled solid tungsten rotating target. The Accelerator is built with a high percentage of In-Kind Contributions (IKC) with major accelerator systems being designed, prototyped and built outside ESS. The first major accelerator elements are now being assembled and tested with their first parts being installed. Future similar large-scale projects could likely be IKC-based, which is a powerful model. Within ESS, the Mechanical Engineering & Technology (MET) section is responsible for developing and maintaining mechanical engineering and design throughout the facility. The mechanical design is consolidated in the master model and available under the ESS Plant Layout, including all In-Kind Contributions as well as other related mechanical engineering content. Consequently, the MET section is also responsible for the design, development and supervision of the proton accelerator and tungsten target in terms of civil and infrastructure design for the physical plant. In parallel, ESS has set stringent goals for high availability and reliability on the machines during operations. In order to deliver these goals and monitor the aging status of critical parts of the machines, prototypes and one-of-a-kinds, the MET section has developed and currently implements Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) program on the accelerator primarily and other machines for Operations. The innovative strategy and application of Non-Destructive Testing for Machines (NDTM) is under development by the MET section with the leading benefit of utilizing the technology of Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS). Both reference and irradiated samples undergo RUS measurements to obtain spectral responses of the dedicated materials, for machine reliability and operations availability purposes.

Particle therapy is the expanding radiotherapy treatment option of choice for cancer. Its cost, however, is currently hindering its worldwide expansion. Also, the ideal application of particle therapy is restricted by a series of unsolved technical challenges. Both the cost and technical limitations are directly traceable to dependence on legacy accelerators and their associated treatment possibilities. This chapter is written to address these needs. Firstly, a technical overview is presented of photon and particle therapy for cancer tumours. Secondly, the underlying limitations of the existing legacy systems are identified, especially those related to accelerators, and suggestions are made for current and future developments to address these shortcomings. The legacy systems referred to here are of the slow scanning variety using large, circular accelerators.

This paper also attempts to make a scientific comparison of the various types of accelerators currently used or being developed for particle therapy.

The following procedure is pursued to perform a comparison between various types of accelerators:

• The parameters which are pertinent to particle therapy accelerators (‘specified parameters’) are identified from clinical efficiency and overall cost considerations.
• The range and values of ‘specified parameters’ associated with each type of particle therapy accelerator are identified.
• A comparison is made on the best match between the various types of accelerators for each of the ‘specified parameters,’ i.e., the best in class accelerator, when compared to each criterion.
• Based on this match, an overall conclusion is made on the type of accelerator which best fits the needs for particle therapy.

Cargo inspection by X-rays has become essential for seaports and airports. With the emphasis on homeland security issues, the identification of dangerous things, such as explosive items and nuclear materials, is the key feature of a cargo inspection system. And new technologies based on dual energy X-rays, neutrons and monoenergetic X-rays have been studied to achieve sufficiently good material identification. An interpretation of the principle of X-ray cargo inspection technology and the features of X-ray sources are presented in this article. As most of the X-ray sources are based on RF electron linear accelerators (linacs), we give a relatively detailed description of the principle and characteristics of linacs. Cargo inspection technologies based on neutron imaging, neutron analysis, nuclear resonance fluorescence and computer tomography are also mentioned here. The main vendors and their products are summarized at the end of the article.