Compact Proton Linac for PET Isotope Production

The thrust of this proposal is the development of small, economical, table-top accelerators for thethe short-lived radioisotopes for the powerful medical diagnostic techniques, based on positron emis(PET), which have proven effective in monitoring physiological processes in the body, including braivisual processing. It draws upon recent advances in linear accelerator technology, a new rf-focusedstructure (to be developed under this effort), and some rf power source innovations. The principal tare the higher frequency (800-MHz), which reduces the size of the device and its rf power dissipatiofocusing throughout, which reduces the proton beam diameter and improves the energy transfer processtank, single-frequency configuration, which allows consideration of a very economical rf power systepart of the effort will directed to the development of a new rf-focused drift-tube (RFD) linac strucanalyses of the performance of each individual component and their performance in combination will bA tentative design for a compact, economical 12-MeV accelerator system for the production of short-lfor the medical community will be produced. Performance and cost estimated for the system will be prSuccessful completion of this project offers a dramatic reduction in the size, cost and complexity ofor isotope production and other medical applications.