Linear Accelerator

GROUP MEMBERS:
AMNA SHAHZADI
ASHIQ HAYAT
SANEELA RAFIQUE
USAMA BIN IJAZ
Sequence:

 Introduction

 Identification of linacs

 Components

 Working

 Applications
Particle Accelerator

 A particle accelerator accelerates charged particles such as

electrons or protons to very high energies.

 Two basic classes of Accelerators:

 Electrostatic Accelerators
 Electromagnetic Accelerators
Linear Accelerator:-

 A linear particle accelerator (often shortened to linac) is a type of

particle accelerator that accelerates charged subatomic particles
or ions to a high speed by subjecting them to a series of oscillating
electric potentials along a linear beamline.

 Linear accelerators are electromagnetic accelerators.They use both

electric field and magnetic field.Electric field is used to speed up
particles and magnetic field to focus them.

 Linear accelerator is used for fixed target experiments.

 Particles are accelerated in steps.

Linacs operating in CERN :-

The CERN hadron Linacs are linear accelerators that

accelerate beams of hadrons to be used by the larger
circular accelerators.

Linac 2: Accelerate protons.

Linac 3: Accelerate ions.
Linac 4: Accelerate negative hydrogen ions.
Building covering the 2 mile (3.2 km) beam tube of
the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) at Menlo
Park, California, the second most powerful linac in
the world. It has about 80,000 accelerating
electrodes and could accelerate electrons to 50
GeV.
Components:

1) Particle source (injection system).

2) Radiofrequency generating system.
3) Accelerating waveguide.
4) Auxiliary system
5) Beam transport system.
Particle Source :
 The particle source provides the particles that are to be accelerated.
Particles can be electrons, protons, ions, and nuclei of heavy atoms
such as gold.

 Electrons are generated from electron gun.

 Electron gun contain a heated filament cathode and anode.

 Electrons are thermionically emitted from the heated cathode and are
accelerated towards the anode through which they drift to enter the
accelerating guide.

 The source has its own high voltage supply to inject the particles into
the beamline.
Radiofrequency generating system:
 RF system consist of two parts:
a). Modulator
b). RF power source

 Modulator: The function of modulator is to provide high voltage pulses

to RF power source from high voltage supply.

 RF power source: converts the high voltage pulses from the modulator
into pulsed radio frequency pulses. The RF pulses are sent to the
accelerating waveguide to setup an electric field which is used for
acceleration of charged particles.

 It consist of two parts:

a): Magnetron
b): klystron
Magnetron:
Generates electromagnetic waves for
accelerating guide to accelerate electrons.
Klystron :
It amplifies the microwaves produced by
magnetron.
Accelerating waveguide:
 A straight hollow pipe vacuum chamber. It is evacuated with a
vacuum pump so that the accelerated particles will not collide with
air molecules.

 Extending along the pipe from the source is a series of open-ended

cylindrical electrodes (C1, C2, C3, C4), whose length increases
progressively with the distance from the source. The particles from
the source pass through these electrodes.

 The cylinders are connected alternately to the terminals of high

frequency oscillator.

 The path of beam is controlled by two sets of quadrupole magnets

for focusing of the beam. They surround the waveguide.
Accelerating waveguide:
 The oscillating voltage applied to alternate cylindrical electrodes has
opposite polarity (180° out of phase), so adjacent electrodes have
opposite voltages.

 This creates an oscillating electric field (E) in the gap between each
pair of electrodes, which exerts force on the particles which accelerates
them.

 The electrodes are made the correct length so that the accelerating
particles take exactly one-half cycle to pass through each electrode.

 If the peak voltage applied between the electrodes is Vp volts, and the
charge on each particle is q. The output energy of the particles is

 E=qNVp
Auxiliary System:

The linac auxiliary system comprises of:

 A vacuum pump system producing a vacuum pressure of 10-6 torr in
the accelerating guide and RF generator.

 A water cooling system used for cooling the accelerating

guide,target and RF generator.

 Shielding against leakage.

Beam Transport:
 In low energy linacs the target is embedded in the accelerating
waveguide and no beam transport between the accelerating
waveguide and target is required.

 Bending magnets are used in linacs operating at energies above 6

MeV, where the accelerating waveguides are too long for straight
through mounting.

 Bending Magnet Envelope: Electrons are filtered according to their

energy and bent at right angles to strike the target.

 Collimator: It is used to focus the beams.

 Target : Particles collide with target located at the end of accelerating

guide. Behind the target are various detectors to detect the particles
resulting from the collision of the incoming particles with the atoms of
the target.
Working of linac:
Working of linear accelerator:

 A linear accelerator works on the principle of electric attraction and

repulsion.

 Electrons or Protons are generated in an ion sources.

 The source has its own high voltage supply to inject the particles into
the beamline.

 The length of hollow pipe vacuum chamber will vary with

application. It is evacuated with vacuum pump.
Working continued

 Ion source gives bunch of electrons which are then accelerated

towards first drift tube because of their negative potential and drift
tube’s positive potential.

 When electrons comes inside tube, in that moment RF source shifts

its polarity.

 First drift tube then becomes negatively charged and second drift
tube becomes positively charged.

 Electrons comes outside of tube because of its inertia.

Working continued

 In that moment they are pushed with first drift tube and attracted by
the second one in same direction.

 As electrons are accelerating, their velocity becomes bigger and

they travel longer distance in the same time.

 This is the reason why drift tubes must be longer as electrons come
closer to target: because of their greater velocity.

 If very high velocity is needed, linac must be very long.

Working continued
 There is no electric field inside the tubes as they are hollow conductors so the
speed of particles inside drift tube remains constant.

 The frequency of driving signal and spacing of gaps between electrodes are
designed so that the maximum voltage differential appears as the particle
crosses the gap.

 This accelerates the particle, imparting energy to it in the form of increased

velocity.

 At speeds near the speed of light, the incremental velocity increase will be
small, with the energy appearing as an increase in the mass of the particle.

 In portions of the accelerator where it occurs, the tabular electrode’s lengths will
be almost constant.
Working continued

 These particles are then directed at a fixed target, such as a thin

piece of metal foil, or two beams of particles can be collided.

 Linear accelerators record and reveal the particles and radiation

that are produced by collision between a beam of particles and
the target.
Uses of Linear Accelerator

 It is used in radiation therapy to treat cancer and tumors.

 Also used in industrial radiography for non detective testing.

 Radiation processing – this involves the stimulation of chemical

reactions in various materials with ionization radiation in the form of
energetic electron or photons.

 Polymer modification – it includes coating systems and various

plastics and rubber products.
More Uses
 Sterilization – important application for ionizing radiation is the
sterilization of medical devices.

 Food Preservation – after 40 years of research, the idea of preserving

food with ionization radiation is finally gaining acceptance
internationally.

 Processing Linac Developments – there are several new

developments in Linac design that will be able to provide more than
10 kw of average electron beam power for radiation processing.

 For treating waste – it is also used for removing industrial waste from
water.
Thank You !!!