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The single-pulse formation technique using a beam chopping system consisting of two types of high-voltage beam kickers was improved to enhance the quality and intensity of the single-pulse beam with a pulse interval over 1 μs at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency cyclotron facility. A contamination rate of neighboring beam bunches in the single-pulse beam was reduced to less than 0.1%. Long-term purification of the single pulse beam was guaranteed by the well-controlled magnetic field stabilization system for the cyclotron magnet. Reduction of the multi-turn extraction number for suppressing the neighboring beam bunch contamination was achieved by restriction of a beam phase width and precise optimization of a particle acceleration phase. In addition, the single-pulse beam intensity was increased by a factor of two or more by a combination of two types of beam bunchers using sinusoidal and saw-tooth voltage waveforms. Provision of the high quality intense single-pulse beam contributed to improve the accuracy of experiments for investigation of scintillation light time-profile and for neutron energy measurement by a time-of-flight method.

In order to establish a self-sufficient supply of (99m)Tc, we studied feasibilities to produce its parent nucleus, (99)Mo, using Japanese accelerators. The daughter nucleus, (99m)Tc, is indispensable for medical diagnosis. (99)Mo has so far been imported from abroad, which is separated from fission products generated in nuclear reactors using enriched (235)U fuel. We investigated (99m)Tc production possibilities based on the following three scenarios: (1) (99)Mo production by the (n, 2n) reaction by spallation neutrons at the J-PARC injector, LINAC; (2) (99)Mo production by the (p, pn) reaction at Ep = 50-80 MeV proton at the RCNP cyclotron; (3) (99m)Tc direct production with a 20 MeV proton beam from the PET cyclotron. Among these three scenarios, scenario (1) is for a scheme on a global scale, scenario (2) works in a local area, and both cases take a long time for negotiations. Scenario (3) is attractive because we can use nearly 50 PET cyclotrons in Japan for (99m)Tc production. We here consider both the advantages and disadvantages among the three scenarios by taking account of the Japanese accelerator situation.

We have developed a new technique for analysis and control of the acceleration beam phase in the cyclotron. In this technique, the beam current pattern at a fixed radius r is measured by slightly scanning the acceleration frequency in the cyclotron. The acceleration beam phase is obtained by analyzing symmetry of the current pattern. Simple procedure to control the acceleration beam phase by changing coil currents of a few trim coils was established. The beam phase width is also obtained by analyzing gradient of the decreasing part of the current pattern. We verified reliability of this technique with 260 MeV (20)Ne(7+) beams which were accelerated on different tuning condition of the cyclotron. When the acceleration beam phase was around 0 degrees, top of the energy gain of cosine wave, and the beam phase width was about 6 degrees in full width at half maximum, a clear turn pattern of the beam was observed with a differential beam probe in the extraction region. Beam phase widths of ion beams at acceleration harmonics of h=1 and h=2 were estimated without beam cutting by phase-defining slits. We also calculated the beam phase widths roughly from the beam current ratio between the injected beam and the accelerated beam in the cyclotron without operating the beam buncher. Both beam phase widths were almost the same for h=1, while phase compressions by a factor of about 3 were confirmed for h=2.

We have been developing a new-generation accelerator named “Skeleton Cyclotron”, which is an ultra-compact and high-intensity accelerator for the stable production of 211At used for targeted alpha-particle therapy. Coil system for Skeleton Cyclotron consists of circular and noncircular high-temperature superconducting magnets and it can cause the output energy to vary without being bounded by the non-linearity of the iron core. This will enable not only the production of 211At, but also the production of radioisotopes for positron emission tomography and neutron irradiation for boron neutron capture therapy with a single accelerator. A high-precision magnetic field distribution and a high temporal stability are required for stable beam acceleration, but the screening current, which is induced in the REBa2Cu3Ox (REBCO, RE: Rare Earth) coated conductor, generates an irregular magnetic field and deteriorates the quality of the magnetic field spatially and temporally. In this study, we numerically evaluated the temporal stability and reproducibility of the screening current-induced field considering the variable energy operation for the Ultra-Baby Skeleton Cyclotron, which is a small demonstration model of Skeleton Cyclotron. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the upgrade program of an azimuthally varying field (AVF) cyclotron in progress at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), an emittance monitor is being developed to improve the beam injection efficiency from ion sources to the AVF cyclotron. In order to evaluate the quality of the beams extracted from ion sources quickly, we developed the Pepper-Pot type Emittance Monitor at the RCNP. After improving an analysis method for emittance estimation using LabVIEW, we achieved a measurement frequency of 4 Hz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For simple applications, such as the calibration of a charged particle detector, a multi-MeV proton generator may be preferable to cyclotrons or electrostatic accelerators such as Van de Graaff generator. Thus, a proton generating system, consisting of an 18 GHz superconducting (SC)-ECR ion source and a deuterated polyethylene target, was developed at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics at Osaka University. A 3He2+ beam of 400 eμA was generated by the SC-ECR ion source with the acceleration voltage of 20 kV in an experiment that utilized the fusion reaction 3He + deuteron (D) → proton(P) + 4He. Protons with energies of the order of several MeV were successfully generated at 3.67 Hz at the atmosphere side of the target in the experimental setup, using a novel target base with a thin aluminum window. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP) was founded in 1971 at Osaka University to promote nuclear physics research using a variable-energy, multiparticle azimuthally varying field (AVF) cyclotron with a K-value of 140 MeV. The maximum kinetic energy of a charged particle accelerated by the AVF cyclotron is given by 140 × (Q/A)2 MeV/u, where Q and A are charge state and mass number of the charged particle, respectively. Construction of the AVF cyclotron facility was finished in 1973 and nuclear physics experiments started from 1976. A ring cyclotron with a K-value of 400 MeV [1] was completed in 1991 to increase the maximum energy of proton and heavy ion beams up to 420 and 100 A MeV, respectively. The AVF cyclotron in a standalone operation mode is mainly used for radio isotope (RI) production, educational experiments, and detector developments. The AVF cyclotron also provides an ion beam to the ring cyclotron as an injector. Four kinds of ion sources, a 10 GHz permanent magnet type electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source named NEOMAFIOS, an 18 GHz superconducting ECR ion source, a 2.45 GHz ECR proton source, a polarized proton and deuteron source, were developed to fulfill the requirements for the research in nuclear physics, radiochemistry, nuclear medicine, and interdisciplinary field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new technique for evaluating the phase bunching performance in the central region of a cyclotron was developed. A newly-developed radial probe with a 6-mm-wide, 5-mm-height plastic scintillator was applied to analysis of the correlation between the internal beam phase distribution and the initial beam phase, defined by adjusting the relative RF phase of the beam buncher. The phase distribution measurement system, comprising the radial probe equipped with a plastic scintillator and the signal-processing modules, had a sufficiently good time resolution of 45 ps full-width at half-maximum for the phase bunching evaluation. The correlations between the buncher phase and the measured phase distribution for the acceleration harmonic number h =1 and 2 were consistent with the calculation result of the geometric trajectory analysis. For h =1 case of a 107 MeV 4 He 2+ beam, the internal beam phase region spread over 71 RF degrees full-width at quarter-maximum (FWQM) for the acceptable buncher phase region of 48 RF degrees, and no evidence of the phase bunching effect was observed. For h =2 case of a 260 MeV 20 Ne 7+ beam, the internal beam phase region for the acceptable buncher phase region of 59 RF degrees was compressed into 21 RF degrees FWQM. The phase bunching effect was sharply evident for h =2, and contributed to increase of the acceptable beam phase region and the beam intensity per phase width. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An optimum condition for realizing phase bunching in the central region of a cyclotron was quantitatively clarified by a simplified geometric trajectory analysis of charged particles from the first to the second acceleration gap. The phase bunching performance was evaluated for a general case of a cyclotron. The phase difference of incident particles at the second acceleration gap depends on the combination of four parameters: the acceleration harmonic number h, the span angle θ D of the dee electrode, the span angle θ F from the first to the second acceleration gap, the ratio R V of the peak acceleration voltage between the cyclotron and ion source. Optimum values of θ F for phase bunching were limited by the relationship between h and θ D , which is 90°/h+θ D /2≤θ F ≤180°/h+θ D /2, and sin θ F >0. The phase difference with respect to the reference particle at the second acceleration gap is minimized for voltage-ratios between two and four for an initial phase difference within 40 RF degrees. Although the slope of the first acceleration gap contributes to the RF phase at which the particles reach the second acceleration gap, phase bunching was not affected. An orbit simulation of the AVF cyclotron at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency verifies the evaluation based on geometric analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A phase bunching effect has been achieved for the first time using a rising slope of the dee voltage waveform produced at the first acceleration gap between the RF shielding cover of the inflector and the puller in the new central region of the JAEA AVF cyclotron. The feasibility of the phase bunching effect in the central region for a two-dee system with a span angle of 86° in three acceleration harmonic modes was assessed by a simple geometrical analysis of particle trajectories and a three-dimensional beam orbit simulation using the calculated electric field and a measured magnetic field. The simulation indicated that the initial beam phase width of 40 RF degrees is compressed to 11 RF degrees (about 28% of the initial phase width) in the second harmonic mode. A phase width of 1.5 RF degrees FWHM for a 260MeV 20Ne7+ beam accelerated in the second harmonic mode was observed when using a 4mm phase slit gap. The phase width reduction was considerably enhanced by the bunching effect, compared with the beam phase width of 7.3 RF degrees FWHM in the same harmonic mode for a 10MeV H+ beam accelerated in the original central region. The ratio of the beam current for the 1.5 RF degrees FWHM phase width with 4mm phase slit gap restriction to the full beam current without the phase slit was drastically improved to 80%, while the beam current was less than 1% of the full beam when narrowing the phase slit gap to obtain the 7.3 RF degrees FWHM phase width in the original central region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The 30-deg white neutron beam at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP) cyclotron facility has been characterized as a probe suitable for testing of single-event effects (SEE) in semiconductor devices in the neutron energy range from 1 to 300 MeV using the 392-MeV proton incident reaction on a 6.5-cm-thick tungsten target. The neutron spectrum obtained by time-of-flight measurements reproduced the terrestrial neutron flux distribution at sea level, and neutron intensity increased by a factor of 1.5 x 108 became available. The average neutron intensity and spectrum in the energy region from 10 to 100 MeVat RCNP were almost the same as those at the Weapons Neutron Research (WNR). The calculated RCNP neutron flux using Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) generally agreed with the measured RCNP data within a factor of 2. The neutron density per pulse at RCNP, which is around 500 times lower than that for WNR, has the advantage in reduction of the pileup probability of single-event transient currents and false multiple-bit upsets. Such conditions at RCNP are suitable for accelerated SEE testing to get meaningful results in a realistic time frame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-turn extraction from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency AVF cyclotron with a K number of 110 using a flat-top (FT) acceleration system has been achieved to reduce the energy spread of an ion beam for microbeam formation with energy up to hundreds of MeV and to increase extraction efficiency from the cyclotron. In order to generate a FT waveform voltage using the fifth-harmonic frequency on a dee electrode, a FT resonator was designed using MAFIA code to achieve downsizing and low power consumption. The FT resonator, coupled to the main resonator through a coupling capacitor, covered the full range of the fifth harmonic frequency from 55 to 110 MHz. Various ion beams, accelerated using different acceleration harmonic modes of h=1 and 2, such as 220 MeV 12C5+ (h=2), 260 MeV 20Ne7+ (h=2), and 45 MeV H+ (h=1), were developed by FT acceleration. A clear turn separation of the beam bunches was successfully observed at the extraction region of the large-scale AVF cyclotron with number of revolutions greater than 200. As a result, high extraction efficiency (over 95%) from the cyclotron was achieved. Single-turn extraction was confirmed by counting the number of beam bunches out of the cyclotron for an injected beam pulsed by a beam chopping system in the injection line. The energy spread of the 260 MeV 20Ne7+ beam was measured using an analyzing magnet, and we verified a reduction in the energy spread from ΔE/E=0.1% to 0.05% by single-turn extraction after FT acceleration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A heavy-ion microbeam with energy of hundreds of MeV is a significantly useful probe for research in biology and biotechnology. A single-ion hit technique using the heavy-ion microbeam is being developed at the JAERI AVF cyclotron facility for elucidation of biofunctions. For production of a microbeam with a spot size of one micro-meter in diameter, the energy spread in the beam is required to be reduced to 0.02% to minimize the effect of chromatic aberrations in the focusing lenses. The energy spread in the cyclotron beam depends on a waveform of the acceleration voltage and beam phase acceptance of the cyclotron. The typical energy spread of the cyclotron beam is around 0.1% in the ordinary acceleration mode using a sinusoidal voltage waveform. The energy spread can be reduced by superimposing a fifth-harmonic voltage waveform on the fundamental one to generate a flat-top waveform for uniform energy gain. The flat-top acceleration system has been designed for the variable-energy multi-particle AVF cyclotron with acceleration harmonic mode of 1, 2 and 3. An additional coaxial cavity has been installed to generate the fifth-harmonic voltage, coupled to the main resonator. The frequency range of the fifth harmonics, 55–110 MHz, was fully covered by the flat-top acceleration system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A flat-top acceleration system appropriate to minimization of energy spread in an ion beam was investigated for the JAERI AVF cyclotron. A combination of the fundamental- and the fifth-harmonic voltages to obtain a homogeneous energy gain distribution of accelerated particles is ideally suited to a variable-energy multiparticle cyclotron using acceleration harmonics of 1, 2, and 3. The flat topping of the energy gain distribution using the fifth harmonics has the advantages of minimizing amplifier power, reducing power dissipation in a resonator, and increasing the energy gain per turn. The flat-top acceleration system was designed to reduce the energy spread to 0.02%, which fulfills a beam focusing condition for production of a microbeam with a beam spot diameter of 1 μm. Tolerable fluctuations of acceleration voltages, required to achieve the energy spread of 0.02%, were 2.0×10[SUP-4] for the fundamental voltage and 1.0×10[SUP-3] for the fifth-harmonic voltage. Both fundamental- and fifth-harmonic phases were required to be stabilized within 0.2 rf degrees. The tolerance of the magnetic excitation was 1.9×10[SUP-5]. In order to enhance compactness of the flat-topping cavity and to make a substantial saving of the amplifier power, optimum geometric parameters of the flat-topping cavity were determined by a cold model test and a calculation using the MAFIA code. A full range of the fifth-harmonic frequency, 55-110 MHz, was covered by the flat-top system, which enables us to apply the flat-top acceleration to a wide range of energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The JAEA AVF cyclotron provides heavy-ion beams covering a wide range of linear-energy-transfers for microbeam formation. Two types of microbeam formation systems, one using a micro-aperture and the other focusing lenses, are installed on two vertical beam lines of the cyclotron. The average beam time for an experiment using the former system is usually less than 3h, that is comparable to the time for cyclotron tuning. The time ratio between experiment and tuning determines the usage efficiency of the facility. In order to reduce the tuning time, a scaling method has been introduced to change the ion species with various mass to charge ratios (M/Q) in a shorter total time. The principle of the scaling method is to keep the magnetic rigidity of ion beams constant. This requirement is easily achieved by adjusting the extraction voltage of an ion source proportionally to the M/Q in the beam injection line. Although some cyclotron adjustments, other than the magnetic field strength at the extraction radius, are required, the tuning can be completed within 20min, and no change is basically required in the beam transport line downstream of the cyclotron. Using the scaling method, 255MeV 20Ne7+, 335MeV 20Ne8+, and 440MeV 40Ar13+ beams were extracted from the cyclotron in sequence after the usual tuning of a 220MeV 12C5+. As a result, we have succeeded in changing the ion species of the heavy-ion microbeam within a total of 30min. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A heavy-ion microbeam with hundreds of MeV energy is utilized for research in biotechnology and materials science at the JAEA AVF cyclotron facility. Beam users need microbeams providing a wide range of the LET. We have to change ion species and/or energy in order to vary the LET widely. However, it takes much time to develop a new microbeam of different ion species step by step using a flat-top acceleration system. A cocktail beam acceleration technique is frequently used to change the ion species and energy quickly. The cocktail beam acceleration has been first applied to the microbeam formation for quick change of the ion species. As a result, we have succeeded to reduce considerably microbeam changing time to within 30min between a 520MeV 40Ar14+ and a 260MeV 20Ne7+. No deterioration of the microbeam spot size has been confirmed using a SE image of a copper grid. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Ion optical analysis was made for a new focusing high-energy heavy ion microbeam system connected to the AVF cyclotron (K=110) at the accelerator facility, TIARA of JAEA Takasaki. The focusing performance of the microbeam system was estimated from both the calculation up to third-order term using TRANSPORT code and the measurement of beam resolution with the secondary electron imaging. As a result, a minimum beam size was evaluated at 0.56 and 0.62μm in FWHM for the X and Y directions, respectively. The high-energy heavy ion microbeam system seemed to have been established as designed by the calculation with the TRANSPORT code, because it was confirmed that the calculation results was fairly reproduced by the measurement result. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]