Electron string ion sources for carbon ion cancer therapy accelerators

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development and testing of Electron String Ion Sources (ESIS) capable of producing high-intensity carbon ion beams suitable for cancer therapy accelerators, with promising results for both synchrotrons and cyclotrons.

Contribution

It introduces the first successful development and testing of ESIS for generating pulsed C4+ and C6+ ion beams for medical accelerators, demonstrating high ion output and potential for various accelerator types.

Findings

ESIS can produce over 10^10 C4+ ions per pulse

ESIS can generate more than 10^11 C6+ ions per second at 100 Hz

The cryogenic cell effectively injects gaseous species into the electron string

Abstract

The Electron String type of Ion Sources (ESIS) was developed, constructed and tested first in the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. These ion sources can be the appropriate sources for production of pulsed C4+ and C6+ ion beams which can be used for cancer therapy accelerators. In fact the test ESIS Krion-6T already now at the solenoid magnetic field only 4.6 T provides more than 10^10 C4+ ions per pulse and about 5*10^9 C6+ ions per pulse. Such ion sources could be suitable for application at synchrotrons. It was also found, that Krion-6T can provide more than 10^11 C6+ ions per second at 100 Hz repetition rate, and the repetition rate can be increased at the same or larger ion output per second. This makes ESIS applicable at cyclotrons as well. As for production of 11C radioactive ion beams ESIS can be the most economic kind of ion source. To proof that the special cryogenic cell for pulse injection of gaseous species into electron string was successfully tested using the ESIS Krion-2M.