D. Rifuggiato

A 62 MeV proton beam for the treatment of ocular melanoma at Laboratori Nazionali del Sud-INFN (CATANIA)

At the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud in Catania (Italy) the first Italian protontherapy facility, named CATANA (Centre di AdroTerapia e Applicazioni Nucleari Avanzate) has been realized in collaboration with the University of Catania. It is based on the use of the 62 MeV proton beam delivered by the K = 800 superconducting cyclotron installed and working at LNS since 1995. The facility is mainly devoted to the treatment of ocular diseases like uveal melanoma. A beam treatment line in air has been realized together with a dedicated positioning patient system. The facility is in operation since the beginning of 2002 and 52 patients have been successfully treated up to now. The main features of CATANA together with the clinical and dosimetric features will be extensively reported; particularly, will be described the proton beam line, that has been entirely realized at LNS, with all its elements, the experimental transversal and depth dose distributions of the 62 MeV proton beam obtained for a final collimator of 25 mm diameter and the experimental depth dose distributions of a modulated proton beam obtained for the same final collimator. Finally, the clinical results over one year of treatments, describing the features of the treated diseases will be reported.

Recent developments of the EXCYT project

Abstract The aim of the EXCYT project is to develop a facility for the production and the acceleration of exotic beams up to 8 MeV/amu. The primary beams shall be provided by the now operational K-800 superconducting cyclotron and the exotic ions will be accelerated by a 15 MV Tandem. We will describe the cyclotron source and its axial injection system, the transfer beam line sending the primary beams onto the target and the target-ion source unit. Also we will describe the planned high resolution isobar separator that should allow to perform either nuclear or astrophysical and material science experiments. This separator consists of a pre-separator and two main stages and should provide an overall mass resolving power up to m/Dm ≈ 20000.

The ISOL exotic beam facility at LNS: the EXCYT project

Abstract The aim of the EXCYT project (EXotics with CYclotron and Tandem) is the development of a facility for producing and accelerating exotic beams from 0.2 up to 8 MeV/amu. EXCYT is based on the “two accelerators” method. A K = 800 Superconducting Cyclotron (CS), axially injected by the ECR ion source SERSE, will deliver the primary beam. Such a beam will produce the required nuclear species in a modified ISOLDE type target-source complex. When required, a 15 MV Tandem Van der Graaff will accelerate the secondary beams. Both accelerators are existing and operational at Laboratorio Nazionale del Sud (LNS). Concerning the status of the project, progress has been made in most of the key issues of the project, like the construction of SERSE, cyclotron upgrading, modification of the existing building, high resolution mass separator, and diagnostic equipment for low energy, low intensity beams.

Calibration and energy resolution study of a high dispersive power Thomson Parabola Spectrometer with monochromatic proton beams

A high energy resolution, high dispersive power Thomson Parabola Spectrometer has been developed at INFN-LNS in order to characterize laser-driven beams up to 30- 40 MeV for protons. This device has parallel electric and magnetic field to deflect particles of a certain charge-to-mass ratio onto parabolic traces on the detection plane. Calibration of the deflection sector is crucial for data analysis, namely energy determination of analysed beam, and to evaluate the effective energy limit and resolution. This work reports the study of monochromatic proton beams delivered by the TANDEM accelerator at LNS (Catania) in the energy range between 6 and 12.5 MeV analysed with our spectrometer which allows a precise characterization of the electric and magnetic deflections. Also the energy and the Q/A resolutions and the energy limits have been evaluated proposing a mathematical model that can be used for data analysis, for the experimental set up and for the device scalability for higher energy.

Errors and optics study of a permanent magnet quadrupole system

Laser-based accelerators are gaining interest in recent years as an alternative to conventional machines [1]. Nowadays, energy and angular spread of the laser-driven beams are the main issues in application and different solutions for dedicated beam-transport lines have been proposed [2,3]. In this context a system of permanent magnet quadrupoles (PMQs) is going to be realized by INFN [2] researchers, in collaboration with SIGMAPHI [3] company in France, to be used as a collection and pre-selection system for laser driven proton beams. The definition of well specified characteristics, both in terms of performances and field quality, of the magnetic lenses is crucial for the system realization, for an accurate study of the beam dynamics and the proper matching with a magnetic selection system already realized [6,7]. Hence, different series of simulations have been used for studying the PMQs harmonic contents and stating the mechanical and magnetic tolerances in order to have reasonable good beam quality downstream the system. In this paper is reported the method used for the analysis of the PMQs errors and its validation. Also a preliminary optics characterization is presented in which are compared the effects of an ideal PMQs system with a perturbed system on a monochromatic proton beams.

Design of the EXCYT radioactive ion beam separator

Abstract The design of a mass separator is described for the radioactive ion beam facility at the INFN-LNS in Catania. The two stages of this separator achieve an energy achromatic mass separation, that should allow one to separate the different elements within one isobar as long as their Qβ-values are larger than 5 MeV in the case of nuclei of mass 100. The system also incorporates a preseparator that should retain most of the activity produced in the target and ion source.

The EXCYT RIB facility at LNS

EXCYT, a project for a low energy ISOL facility at LNS, has been funded. It is based on two already existing particle accelerators. A K = 800 superconducting cyclotron will deliver the primary beam of ions A ≤ 48, E = 50–80 MeV/amu. After its interaction in a thick target, the negatively ionized radioactive products (A < 80) will be post-accelerated to 0.2–8 MeV/amu by a 15MV SMP tandem. A description of the facility, including the fully redesigned ion optics, an overview of the design problems and the expected secondary beam intensities are presented.

Recent improvements of the tandem facility at LNS

Abstract The Laboratorio Nazionale del Sud (LNS) of Catania is equipped with an upgraded 15 MV SMP tandem that is going to be coupled to a k = 800 supercond

First operations of the LNS heavy ions facility

Abstract A heavy ion facility is now available at Laboratorio Nazionale del Sud (LNS) of Catania. It can deliver beams with an energy up to 100 MeV/amu. The facility is based on a 15MV HVEC tandem and a K = 800 superconducting cyclotron as booster. During the last year, the facility came into operation. A 58Ni beam delivered by the tandem has been radially injected in the SC and then has been accelerated and extracted at 30 MeV/amu. In this paper the status of the facility together with the experience gained during the commissioning will be extensively reported.

Overview of the future upgrade of the INFN-LNS superconducting cyclotron

The LNS Superconducting Cyclotron, named “Ciclotrone Superconduttore” (CS), has been in operation for more than 20 years. A wide range of ion species from hydrogen to lead, with energy in the range 10 to 80 AMeV, have been delivered to users. The maximum beam power is limited to 100 W due to the beam dissipation on the electrostatic deflectors. To fulfil the demand of users aiming at studying rare processes in nuclear physics, an upgrade of the cyclotron is necessarily intended to increase the intensity of ion beams with mass lower than 40 a.m.u. up to a power 10 kW. This will be achieved by means of extraction by stripping. This solution needs to replace the cryostat including the superconducting coils. The present capability of the cyclotron will be maintained, i.e. all the ion species allowed by the operating diagram will be available, being extracted by electrostatic extraction. In addition to the high power beams for nuclear physics, it will be possible to produce medical radioisotopes like 211At usi...