Design and testing of an electron cyclotron resonance heating ion source for use in high field compact superconducting cyclotrons

Abstract

The main goal of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of axial injection of a high brightness beam from an Electron Cyclotron Resonance ion source into a high magnetic field cyclotron. Axial injection from an ion source with high brightness is important to reduce particle losses in the first several turns of acceleration within the cyclotron. Beam brightness is a measure of the beam current and rate of spread of the beam. The ultimate goal in developing an ECR ion source is to enable reduced beam losses along the entire acceleration path from the ion source through the cyclotron, allowing for a high beam current accelerator. Cyclotrons with high beam current have the potential to improve the availability of proton radiation therapy. Proton radiation therapy is a precisely targeted treatment capable of providing an excellent non-invasive treatment option for tumors located deep within tissue. In order to model injection into high field it is necessary to measure the parameters of the beam extracted from the ion source. The two most important beam parameters are emittance and beam current. The emittance of the beam is a measurement of the rate of beam spread along the path of the beam and beam current is a measurement of the energy and quantity of particles within a charged particle beam. This thesis presents the design and analysis of an ECR Ion Source and the instruments used to measure the emittance and beam current. Based on the modeling of the ECR ion source beam and the data gathered during testing, the ECR ion source presented in this thesis has the potential to provide a high brightness beam capable of high field axial injection. Beam simulations provide insight into the performance of the ECR ion source in high magnetic field. Axial beam injection from an external ion source is promising with moderate refinements to the ECR ion source.