Satoshi Kurashima

Useful technique for analysis and control of the acceleration beam phase in the azimuthally varying field cyclotron

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.

Enhancement of beam pulse controllability for a single-pulse formation system of a cyclotron

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.

System for measuring temporal profiles of scintillation at high and different linear energy transfers by using pulsed ion beams.

We have developed a system for measuring the temporal profiles of scintillation at high linear energy transfer (LET) by using pulsed ion beams from a cyclotron. The half width at half maximum time resolution was estimated to be 1.5-2.2 ns, which we attributed mainly to the duration of the pulsed ion beam and timing jitter between the trigger signal and the arrival of the ion pulse. The temporal profiles of scintillation of BaF2 at different LETs were successfully observed. These results indicate that the proposed system is a powerful tool for analyzing the LET effects in temporal profiles of scintillation.

Single-turn extraction from a K110 AVF cyclotron by flat-top acceleration

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 (12)C(5+) (h=2), 260 MeV (20)Ne(7+) (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 (20)Ne(7+) beam was measured using an analyzing magnet, and we verified a reduction in the energy spread from DeltaE/E=0.1% to 0.05% by single-turn extraction after FT acceleration.

The Diagnosis Method for High-Energy Ion Beams Using Backscattered Particles for Laser-Driven Ion Acceleration Experiments

A single CR-39 detector mounted on plastic plates is irradiated with a 100 MeV He ion beam. Although the beam energy is much greater than the detection threshold limit of the CR-39 detector, a large number of etch pits having elliptical openings are observed on the rear surface. Detailed investigations reveal that these etch pits are created by heavy ions inelastically backscattered from the plastic plates. This method allows a simple diagnosis of the ion beam profile and the presence of the high-energy component beyond the detection threshold limit of the CR-39 detector, especially in mixed-radiation fields such as laser-driven ion acceleration experiments.

Time-of-flight system with a movable ion detector for absolute measurement of cyclotron beam energy

A time-of-flight system for determining the absolute energy of ion beams has been developed for the azimuthally varying field (AVF) cyclotron at Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). Ion detectors, a microchannel-plate detector and a plastic scintillation detector, were applied to the system in order to achieve high time resolution measurement of the flight time and to cover a wide range of beam intensity in combination with a beam attenuator. The change of the flight length, performed by moving the plastic scintillation detector with flexible bellows, allows determination of the mean beam energy only from the relative measurement of the flight time and the flight length without knowing their absolute values. A maximum movable distance of 2m yields the difference in the time of flight from 16to94ns for the energy range of ion beams accelerated by the JAEA AVF cyclotron. The time-of-flight system even with the 2m change in the flight length achieves accurate energy determination of the order of 0.1%, since th...

Characteristics of focusing high-energy heavy ion microbeam system at the JAEA AVF cyclotron

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 0.62 microm 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.

A diagnosis of intense ion beam by CR-39 detectors analyzing the back scattered particles

A new diagnosis method has been developed utilizing back scattered particles for high energy intense ion beams. The CR-39 detector mounted on the uniform back-scatterer was irradiated with 4He2+ ions with an energy 25 MeV/n, which is never recorded as etchable track in CR-39. We found that it is possible to diagnose by analyzing the etch pits on the rear surface of CR-39 that directly contacted on the back-scatterers. It turns out that most of etch pits in the rear surface are made by the backscattered particles by investigating the growth pattern of each etch pit with multi-step etching technique. This method allows simple diagnosis of the ion beam profile and intensity distribution in mixed radiation field such as laser-driven ion acceleration experiments.

Status of ion sources at the national institutes for quantum and radiological science and technology (QST)

The National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) manages various types of ion sources for research and development in the fields of life sciences, medical and industrial applications, and fusion energy science. The QST is currently developing on electron cyclotron resonance ion sources, negative ion sources (ion sources for fusion and for tandem accelerators), ion sources for radioactive beams, laser ion sources, and miscellaneous ion sources. Its intra- and inter-institutional collaborations make QST a promising platform for future ion source technologies.The National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) manages various types of ion sources for research and development in the fields of life sciences, medical and industrial applications, and fusion energy science. The QST is currently developing on electron cyclotron resonance ion sources, negative ion sources (ion sources for fusion and for tandem accelerators), ion sources for radioactive beams, laser ion sources, and miscellaneous ion sources. Its intra- and inter-institutional collaborations make QST a promising platform for future ion source technologies.

Influence of injection beam emittance on beam transmission efficiency in a cyclotron

The JAEA AVF cyclotron accelerates various kinds of high-energy ion beams for research in biotechnology and materials science. Beam intensities of an ion species of the order of 10(-9)-10(-6) ampere are often required for various experiments performed sequentially over a day. To provide ion beams with sufficient intensity and stability, an operator has to retune an ion source in a short time. However, the beam intensity downstream of the cyclotron rarely increases in proportion to the intensity at the ion source. To understand the cause of this beam behavior, transmission efficiencies of a (12)C(5+) beam from an electron cyclotron resonance ion source to the cyclotron were measured for various conditions of the ion source. Moreover, a feasible region for acceleration in the emittance of the injection beam was clarified using a transverse-acceptance measuring system. We confirmed that the beam emittance and profile were changed depending on the condition of the ion source and that matching between the beam emittance and the acceptance of the cyclotron was degraded. However, after fine-tuning to improve the matching, beam intensity downstream of the cyclotron increased.