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A new compact electron-beam ion source (EBIS) with a low-energy hollow electron beam has been designed to produce ions for use in heavy-ion therapy. Numerical analyses of the electron beam using the three-dimensional particle-in-cell method determine the appropriate shape of the inner electrodes to realize a compact size and a sufficient number of confined ions for heavy-ion therapy. The analyses also show that the undesirable instability of the hollow electron beam is mitigated by the reflection mode with an electron repeller. Experimental tests were performed on the assembled EBIS to assess the validity of its design. The results of an electron-beam test show that the electrodes have been designed appropriately. Additionally, the results of an ion-beam test show that ions can be produced and confined in the newly developed compact EBIS and the number of extracted ions is just shy of the target value, showing the prospects of modifications aimed at realizing a compact EBIS specialized for the production of ions used in heavy-ion therapy.

A new compact electron-beam ion source (EBIS) with a low-energy hollow electron beam has been designed to produce ions for use in heavy-ion therapy. Numerical analyses of the electron beam using the three-dimensional particle-in-cell method determine the appropriate shape of the inner electrodes to realize a compact size and a sufficient number of confined ions for heavy-ion therapy. The analyses also show that the undesirable instability of the hollow electron beam is mitigated by the reflection mode with an electron repeller. Experimental tests were performed on the assembled EBIS to assess the validity of its design. The results of an electron-beam test show that the electrodes have been designed appropriately. Additionally, the results of an ion-beam test show that ions can be produced and confined in the newly developed compact EBIS and the number of extracted ions is just shy of the target value, showing the prospects of modifications aimed at realizing a compact EBIS specialized for the production of ions used in heavy-ion therapy.

A compact injector, designed for a heavy-ion medical accelerator complex, was constructed. It consists of an Electron-Cyclotron-Resonance Ion-Source (ECRIS) and two linacs, which are a Radio-Frequency-Quadrupole linac and an Interdigital H-mode Drift-Tube-Linac (IH-DTL) having the same operating frequency of 200 MHz. For beam focusing of the IH-DTL, the method of Alternating-Phase-Focusing (APF) was employed. The compact injector can accelerate heavy ions having a charge-to-mass ratio of q m = 1 3 up to 4.0 MeV / u . Use of the APF IH-DTL and operating frequency of 200 MHz allowed us to design compact linacs; the total length of the two linacs is less than 6 m. Beam-acceleration tests of the compact injector system were performed. The measured intensity of accelerated C 4 + 12 beams with the compact injector was 380 e μ A . Beam transmission of the APF IH-DTL was estimated to be as high as 96%, which is comparable to the value calculated by a simulation code. Transverse phase-space and energy distributions of accelerated beams were measured and compared with those calculated by the simulation code, and we found that they were agreed well with each other.

A compact Drift-Tube-Linac (DTL) using an Interdigital H-mode (IH) cavity was designed for an injector of medical accelerators. For beam focusing, the method of Alternating-Phase-Focusing (APF) was applied. The APF IH-DTL can accelerate heavy ions having a charge-to-mass ratio of q / m = 1 3 up to 4.0 MeV / u . Having optimized an array of synchronous phases for cells, namely arranging drift tubes and gaps appropriately, both longitudinal and transverse focusing strengths were produced just with the rf acceleration field, and therefore no focusing element or cooling equipments had to be installed in the cavity. This allowed us to employ a rather high operating frequency, and hence to design a compact and cost-effective cavity. A further advantage of the APF linac can be found in its operation. Since the parameters to be adjusted are just the level and phase of the input rf, beam tuning can be made with ease. Consequently, the APF linac is suitable for an injector for medical accelerators. Tuning methods of the gap voltages and cavity frequency as well as the design of the cavity for APF IH-DTL have been developed. After constructing the cavity, measurements of the electric field and tuning of the gap voltages were performed. Finally, the rf power was fed into the cavity. In this paper, the design and results of the measurements are described.

Since 1994, the clinical trial for cancer therapy with HIMAC has successfully progressed, and more than 2100 cancer patients have been treated with a carbon beam. Based on the development of the accelerator and irradiation technologies for 10 years, we have designed a new carbon-therapy facility for widespread use in Japan, and key technologies for the new facility have been developed. We describe the conceptual design of the new facility and the status of development for the key technologies.

The time structure of extracted beams has been improved in synchrotron rings with resonant slow-extraction including RF-knockout extraction. In order to control the global spill structure in the RF-knockout slow-extraction method, it is necessary to improve the amplitude modulation (AM) function of the transverse RF-field. For this purpose, a scheme with a simple model of the extraction process has been proposed. Using this simple model, an analysis was carried out for determining the parameter relevant to the diffusion process in the separatrix. With this parameter, the new AM function obtained by the analytical approach could provide a flat spill within ±23% in both a simulation and an experiment at the HIMAC synchrotron. Cooperating with the feedback system, the global spill structure was significantly suppressed to be less than ±5%.

A resonant slow-extraction method from synchrotron rings has been successfully developed in order to deliver a beam for a period of over several seconds. In the resonant slow-extraction method, an optimization of the parameters is necessary in order to keep the beam size and position constant during the extraction for sufficient use of the extracted beam. For this purpose, a simple method to measure the outgoing separatrix was proposed and verified at the HIMAC synchrotron. In this method, two tantalum rods each with diameter of 1 mm are used as internal probes located near the extraction channel. By observing the extracted beam under the rods inserted into the ring, the outgoing separatrix can be measured. This technique will significantly contribute to the operation of a synchrotron employing resonant slow-extraction.

An irradiation method for spot scanning has been developed in order to provide accurate irradiation even for an irregular target shape. In spot scanning irradiation, the beam is turned off while the beam position is shifted to the next spot for precise dose management. Recently, the fast beam cut-off method, which can achieve a cut-off time of around 50 μs, was proposed and verified at the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba synchrotron. In order to utilize such a speciality of the technique for spot scanning, the characteristics of fast beam switching were investigated while turning on/off both the transverse and longitudinal RF fields many times during a single flattop. As a result, it was verified that this technique provides more than 50 spots during a single flattop in the synchrotron operation pattern with a cut-off time of 50 μs. With an increase in a switching number, the momentum spread and the size of the extracted beam increase within the allowable range for practical usage.

Two advanced RF-knockout (RF-KO) slow-extraction methods have been developed at HIMAC in order to reduce the spill ripple for accurate heavy-ion cancer therapy: the dual frequency modulation (FM) method and the separated function method. As a result of simulations and experiments, it was verified that the spill ripple could be considerably reduced using these advanced methods, compared with the ordinary RF-KO method. The dual FM method and the separated function method bring about a low spill ripple within standard deviations of around 25% and of 15% during beam extraction within around 2 s, respectively, which are in good agreement with the simulation results.