Superconducting Accelerators for High-Power X-ray production

TL;DR

This paper discusses a compact superconducting RF accelerator capable of producing high-power electron beams in the hundreds of kilowatts, aiming to generate x-ray beams for medical sterilization as a safer alternative to cobalt-60 sources.

Contribution

It introduces emerging superconducting RF technology to achieve higher power electron beams for x-ray production, surpassing current linac capabilities.

Findings

Potential to produce hundreds of kW electron beams

Improved efficiency over existing linacs

Application in medical sterilization using x-ray beams

Abstract

To date, linear accelerators (linacs) as electron sources used to produce ionizing radiation for industrial purposes have been limited to less than 100 kW. When the electron beam is used directly, this is sufficient for most potential applications. However, when the electron beam is used for the production of photons (x-rays) which are then to be used in an application, this is not sufficient to compete with other sources of photons (gamma rays from cobalt-60). This paper will discuss a compact superconducting RF (CSRF) accelerator system that relies on emerging technologies that will be able to produce electron beam powers into the 100s of kW with efficiencies much better than present linacs. The focus is to produce x-ray beams for medical device sterilization to provide alternatives for the present use of cobalt-60 for this purpose.