A cyclotron is a type of particle

accelerator in which charged particles

accelerate outwards from the center along
a spiral path. The particles are held to a
spiral trajectory by a static magnetic field
and accelerated by a rapidly varying (radio
frequency) electric field.
History
The cyclotron was invented and patented by Ernest Lawrence of
the University of California, Berkeley, where it was first operated
in 1932. A graduate student, M. Stanley Livingston, did much of
the work of translating the idea into working
hardware. Lawrence read an article about the concept of a drift
tube linac by Rolf Widere, who had also been working along
similar lines with the betatron concept. The first European
cyclotron was constructed in Leningrad in the physics department
of the Radium Institute, headed by Vitaly Khlopin (ru). This
instrument was first proposed in 1932 by George Gamow and Lev
Mysovskii (ru) and was installed and became operative by
1937. In Nazi Germany a cyclotron built in Heidelberg under
supervision of Walther Bothe and Wolfgang Gentner with
support from the Heereswaffenamt became operative in 1943.
Principle of operation

Diagram of cyclotron operation from Lawrence's 1934 patent. The
"D" shapedelectrodes are enclosed in a flat vacuum chamber, which
is installed in a narrow gap between the two poles of a large
magnet.

Beam of electrons moving in a circle. Visible light is emitted by
excitation of gas atoms in a bulb.

Sketch of a particle being accelerated in a cyclotron, and being
ejected through a beamline.
Cyclotrons accelerate charged particle beams using a high
frequency alternating voltage which is applied between two "D"-
shaped electrodes (also called "dees"). An additional static magnetic
field is applied in perpendicular direction to the electrode plane,
enabling particles to re-encounter the accelerating voltage many
times at the same phase. To achieve this, the voltage frequency
must match the particle's cyclotron resonance frequency
,
with the relativistic mass m and its charge q. This frequency is
given by equality of centripetal force and magnetic Lorentz force.
The particles, injected near the centre of the magnetic field,
increase their kinetic energy only when recirculating through the
gap between the electrodes; thus they travel outwards along
a spiral path. Their radius will increase until the particles hit a
target at the perimeter of the vacuum chamber, or leave the
cyclotron using a beam tube, enabling their use e.g. for particle
therapy. Various materials may be used for a target, and the
collisions will create secondary particles which may be guided
outside of the cyclotron and into instruments for analysis.
Relativistic considerations
In the nonrelativistic approximation, the frequency does not
depend upon the radius of the particle's orbit, since the particle's
mass is constant. As the beam spirals out, its frequency does not
decrease, and it must continue to accelerate, as it is travelling a
greater distance in the same time period. In contrast to this
approximation, as particles approach the speed of light,
their relativistic mass increases, requiring either modifications to
the frequency, leading to the synchrocyclotron, or modifications to
the magnetic field during the acceleration, which leads to
the isochronous cyclotron. The relativistic mass can be rewritten as
,
where
is the particle rest mass,
is the relative velocity, and
is the Lorentz factor.
The relativistic cyclotron frequency and angular frequency can be
rewritten as
, and
,
would be the cyclotron frequency in classical
approximation,
would be the cyclotron angular frequency in classical
approximation.
The gyroradius for a particle moving in a static magnetic field is
then given by
,
because

where v would be the (linear) velocity.
Synchrocyclotron
A synchrocyclotron is a cyclotron in which the frequency of the
driving RF electric field is varied to compensate for relativistic
effects as the particles' velocity begins to approach the speed of
light. This is in contrast to the classical cyclotron, where the
frequency was held constant, thus leading to the synchrocyclotron
operation frequency being
,
where is the classical cyclotron frequency and again is the
relative velocity of the particle beam. The rest mass of an electron
is 511 keV/c
2
, so the frequency correction is 1% for a magnetic
vacuum tube with a 5.11 keV/c
2
direct current accelerating
voltage. The proton mass is nearly two thousand times the electron
mass, so the 1% correction energy is about 9 MeV, which is
sufficient to induce nuclear reactions.
Isochronous cyclotron
An alternative to the synchrocyclotron is the isochronous
cyclotron, which has a magnetic field that increases with radius,
rather than with time. Isochronous cyclotrons are capable of
producing much greater beam current than synchrocyclotrons, but
require azimuthal variations in the field strength to provide
a strong focusing effect and keep the particles captured in their
spiral trajectory. For this reason, an isochronous cyclotron is also
called an "AVF (azimuthal varying field) cyclotron". This solution
for focusing the particle beam was proposed by L. H. Thomas in
1938. Recalling the relativistic gyroradius and the
relativistic cyclotron frequency , one can choose to be
proportional to the Lorentz factor, . This results in the
relation which again only depends on the velocity , like
in the non-relativistic case. Also, the cyclotron frequency is
constant in this case.
The transverse de-focusing effect of this radial field gradient is
compensated by ridges on the magnet faces which vary the field
azimuthally as well. This allows particles to be accelerated
continuously, on every period of the radio frequency (RF), rather
than in bursts as in most other accelerator types. This principle
that alternating field gradients have a net focusing effect is
called strong focusing. It was obscurely known theoretically long
before it was put into practice. Examples of isochronous
cyclotrons abound; in fact almost all modern cyclotrons use
azimuthally-varying fields. The TRIUMF cyclotron mentioned
below is the largest with an outer orbit radius of 7.9 metres,
extracting protons at up to 510 MeV, which is 3/4 of the speed of
light. The PSI cyclotron reaches higher energy but is smaller
because of using a higher magnetic field.
Usage
For several decades, cyclotrons were the best source of high-energy
beams for nuclear physics experiments; several cyclotrons are still
in use for this type of research. The results enable the calculation
of various properties, such as the mean spacing between atoms and
the creation of various collision products. Subsequent chemical and
particle analysis of the target material may give insight
into nuclear transmutation of the elements used in the target.
Cyclotrons can be used in particle therapy to treat cancer. Ion
beams from cyclotrons can be used, as in proton therapy, to
penetrate the body and kill tumors by radiation damage, while
minimizing damage to healthy tissue along their path. Cyclotron
beams can be used to bombard other atoms to produce short-
lived positron-emitting isotopes suitable for PET imaging. More
recently cyclotrons currently installed at hospitals for particle
therapy have been retrofitted to enable them to
produce technetium-99m. Technetium-99m is a diagnostic isotope
in short supply due to difficulties at Canada's Chalk River facility.
Advantages and limitations






The cyclotron was an improvement over the linear
accelerators (linacs) that were available when it was invented,
being more cost- and space-effective due to the iterated interaction
of the particles with the accelerating field. In the 1920s, it was
not possible to generate the high power, high-frequency radio
waves which are used in modern linacs (generated by klystrons).
As such, impractically long linac structures were required for
higher-energy particles. The compactness of the cyclotron reduces
other costs as well, such as foundations, radiation shielding, and
the enclosing building. Cyclotrons have a single electrical driver,
which saves both money and power. Furthermore, cyclotrons are
able to produce a continuous stream of particles at the target, so
the average power passed from a particle beam into a target is
relatively high.






The spiral path of the cyclotron beam can only "sync up" with
klystron-type (constant frequency) voltage sources if the
accelerated particles are approximately obeying Newton's Laws of
Motion. If the particles become fast enough
that relativistic effects become important, the beam becomes out of
phase with the oscillating electric field, and cannot receive any
additional acceleration. The classical cyclotron is therefore only
capable of accelerating particles up to a few percent of the speed
of light. To accommodate increased mass the magnetic field may be
modified by appropriately shaping the pole pieces as in
the isochronous cyclotrons, operating in a pulsed mode and
changing the frequency applied to the dees as in
the synchrocyclotrons, either of which is limited by the diminishing
cost effectiveness of making larger machines. Cost limitations have
been overcome by employing the more complex synchrotron or
modern, klystron-driven linear accelerators, both of which have the
advantage of scalability, offering more power within an improved
cost structure as the machines are made larger.
Notable examples
One of the world's largest cyclotron is at the RIKEN laboratory in
Japan. Called the SRC, for Superconducting Ring Cyclotron, it has
6 separated superconducting sectors, and is 19 m in diameter and
8 m high. Built to accelerate heavy ions, its maximum magnetic
field is 3.8 tesla, yielding a bending ability of 8 tesla-metres. The
total weight of the cyclotron is 8,300 tonnes.The Riken magnetic
field covers from 3.5 m radius to 5.5 m with the maximum beam
radius of about 5m or 200 inches. It has accelerated uranium ions
to 345 MeV per atomic mass unit.
TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for nuclear and particle
physics, houses the world's largest cyclotrons. The 18 m diameter,
4,000 tonne main magnet produces a field of 0.46 T while a
23 MHz 94 kV electric field is used to accelerate the 300 A
beam. The TRIUMF field goes from 0 to about 320 inches radius
with the maximum beam radius of 310 inches. This is because we
require a lower magnetic field to reduce EM stripping of the
loosely bound electrons. Its large size is partly a result of using
negative hydrogen ions rather than protons. The advantage is that
extraction is simpler; multi-energy, multi-beams can be extracted
by inserting thin carbon stripping foils at appropriate radii.
TRIUMF is run by a consortium of eighteen Canadian
universities and is located at the University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, Canada.
Related technologies
The spiraling of electrons in a cylindrical vacuum chamber within
a transverse magnetic field is also employed in the magnetron, a
device for producing high frequency radio waves (microwaves).
The synchrotron moves the particles through a path of constant
radius, allowing it to be made as a pipe and so of much larger
radius than is practical with the cyclotron and synchrocyclotron.
The larger radius allows the use of numerous magnets, each of
which imparts angular momentum and so allows particles of
higher velocity (mass) to be kept within the bounds of the
evacuated pipe. The magnetic field strength of each of the bending
magnets is increased as the particles gain energy in order to keep
the bending angle constant.
Practical Application
Studying the nucleus of the atom is one of the purest pursuits of
knowledge search for answers to some of the basic mysteries.
What are we made of? How do we unveil the cosmos? But the
science of physics, like all good journeys, is about the path, not just
the final destination.
For a more in-depth look at all of the potential benefits that the
U.S. Government has identified from accelerator-based research,
take a look at this Special Report compiled from an intensive
workshop with national experts.
Nuclear science has yielded knowledge that has led to better
health. Examples of benefits from nuclear science include:
Cures for cancer and deadly blood clots
Remarkable diagnostic tools
Ways to make our food and homes safer
Ways to assess health risks to astronauts in space
Tools for archaeologists, military defense, security
The physics done at NSCL and laboratories like it around the
world is the cornerstone for discovery, for innovation, for
solutions.

Airport Safety
Offshoots of nuclear science can provide the technology for
sophisticated security tools for detecting explosives and narcotics
in airports.
Systems based on thermal neutron analysis can be used to detect
the presence of narcotics and explosives inside luggage, vehicles
and containers.
Archaeology
Irreplaceable artworks can be analyzed to verify their authenticity
and understand their age, thanks to accelerator mass spectrometry
(AMS). The accelerator-based technique is so sensitive that a
nearly invisible amount of pigmentless than one thousandth of
a gramcan yield valuable information about an ancient work.
With AMS, the nuclei of the atoms from a tiny sample are sorted
by their various isotopes. From this, scientists can understand the
sample's source or age.


Materials Engineering
The performance of electronic devicessay, on satellites or in
space and military applicationscan be impaired by ionizing
radiation. These so-called single-event upsets can change the
memory state of a computer chip that operates a device. Single-
event upsets are studied at several nuclear physics laboratories and
scientists are working to design and test chips that are radiation
hardenedmeaning they can resist such disruptions.
Medicine
Breakthroughs made by nuclear physics have led to development of
some of the most effective treatments for cancer. Compact
accelerators in hospitals make it possible to direct specific energy
to cancer sites, with the goal of destroying the cancer while
minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue.
Proton Therapy
Protons can be delivered so precisely that they stop at tumors,
minimizing the damage to healthy tissue, even deep within the
body. It is painless, and usually done on an outpatient basis.
Proton therapy is widely accepted treatment for cancers of the
head, brain, neck, and prostate.
Neutron Therapy
Neutrons were the first heavy particles to become available for
therapeutic applications. Neutrons produce a high linear energy
transfer (LET). Some cancers live in cells that are depleted of
oxygen. These oxygen-poor cells allow the cells' repair mechanism
to function better, and thus better resist radiation. High LET
radiation is a more effective foe against these resilient cancer cells,
so neutron therapy biologically is a more effective killer of cancer
cells than more frequently used radiation techniques. Neutrons
now have a well-established place in the treatment of a number of
specific human cancers, particularly salivary gland tumors,
malignant melanomas, soft tissue sarcomas, advanced prostate
cancer, and advanced mouth and throat cancers.


Diagnostics
CAT scans and MRIs have become routine words in the world of
patient care. They and other remarkable diagnostic imaging
technology all come from nuclear science research.
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
PET uses drugs that contain small amounts of short-lived
radioactive isotopes that are injected into the body, then tracked
with sophisticated machinery. The result: a picture of some of the
most fascinating functions of the bodyimages within the brain
that can detect neurological and long-range plan psychiatric
evaluations. PET scans also can pinpoint neurological deficits
caused by brain trauma, such as strokes.
MRI with Polarized Noble Gases
By employing laser-polarized noble gases in next-generation
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology, interiors of body
cavities, which appear as voids on conventional MRIs, can be
seeneven as they function. Cavities, such as the interiors of the
lungs or colon, are filled with laser-polarized noble gas and then
scanned via MRI. The gass physical properties help generate
highly detailed, three-dimensional images that show organ
function in real-time. MRI employing laser-polarized gas may
make it possible, for example, for a physician to precisely identify
diseased portions of a lung before performing delicate surgery.
Trace Isotope Analysis
Nuclear radioactive isotopes produced by accelerators or nuclear
reactors are used widely in many areas of biological and biomedical
research. These isotopes have chemical properties identical to their
stable counterparts, but they decay. As they decay, they leave
signalstracers. With these radioactive isotopes it's possible to
turn molecules into tiny transmitters without disrupting their
natural function. The signals from these transmitters tell
researchers how molecules move through the body.
Radioisotopes help researchers develop diagnostic procedures and
create new pharmaceutical treatments for diseases, including
cancer, AIDS, and Alzheimer's disease. They also are used to cure
diseasessuch as thyroid overproduction.
Radioactive tracers also are indispensable tools for DNA
fingerprinting.
Space Science
Nuclear science has led to the development of detectors that are
placed on satellites to determine possible health risks to astronauts
from cosmic radiation.









Index
History
Principle of operation
Relativistic considerations
Synchrocyclotron
Isochronous cyclotron
Usage
Advantages and limitations
Notable examples
Related technologies
Practical Application
Airport Safety
Archaeology
Materials Engineering
Medicine
Proton Therapy
Neutron Therapy
Diagnostics
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
MRI with Polarized Noble Gases
Trace Isotope Analysis
Space Science