Cyclotron (Particle Accelerator)

 A cyclotron is a device used to accelerate

charged particles to high energies without
use of high voltage.
 It is a circular particle accelerator capable
of generating particle energies between
1 MeV to more than 100 MeV
 Accelerate charged particles like protons
deuterons, etc. ions using electric and
magnetic field.

Principle:
 Cyclotron works on the principle that a
charged particle moving perpendicular to a
magnetic field experiences magnetic
Lorentz force due to which the particle moves in a circular path.
 Lorentz’s Force is the basic principle of Cyclotron.
 Conceptually this device is very simple but it has huge uses in the field of engineering,
physics and medicine.
Working of Cyclotron
 When a positive ion of
charge q and mass m is
emitted from the source, it
is accelerated towards the
Dee having a negative
potential at that instant of
time.
 Due to the normal
magnetic field, the ion
experiences magnetic
Lorentz force and moves
in a circular path.
 By the time the ion arrives at the gap between the Dees, the polarity of the Dees gets
reversed. Hence the particle is once again accelerated and moves into the other Dee
with a greater velocity along a circle of greater radius.
Applications:
Best source of high-energy beams used for
experiment in nuclear physics, where high
energy collisions are required.
Cyclotrons can be used in particle therapy to
treat cancer.
Cyclotron beams can be used to bombard
other atoms to produce short-lived positron
emitting isotopes suitable for Positron
Emitting Tomography (PET) imaging .