High Intensity Proton Accelerator

High-intensity GeV proton beams are required for neutron production, nuclear waste transmutation, energy production in sub-critical nuclear reactors, medical proton therapy, and radioisotope production. Conventional designs for the proton accelerator utilize a several-hundred-meter-long superconducting linear accelerator for this purpose. This project will design and demonstrate a much shorter room-temperature cyclotron accelerator to generate the proton beam. The approach is based on proton-cyclotron-resonance acceleration in a sequence of radio frequency (RF) cavities with step-wise decreasing resonance frequencies in a strong axial magnetic field, which can provide a high acceleration gradient (40 MV/m) for a high-current proton beam (100 mA). Phase I will design an eight-cavity version for proton acceleration of 1 GeV, which will prove the underlying principle of operation and demonstrate that effects of high space charge can be controlled. In Phase II, a small four-cavity electron counterpart accelerator will be built and tested. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: The technology should lead to the construction of a two- or three-cavity proton prototype and, eventually, to a 100 MW, 1 GeV proton machine.