Feasibility Study on the Use of a Superconducting Synchrocyclotron and Electron Beam Ion Source for Heavy-Ion Therapy

A superconducting synchrocyclotron was suggested for proton therapy by H. Blosser of Michigan State University in’ 80, and it became a major machine for therapy cyclotron vendors because of its compact design with high magnetic fields of up to 9 T utilizing a Nb3Sn superconductor. Compared to an isochronous cyclotron, its dependence on the precision and the stability of the magnetic field is lessened. A low-beam current is a weak point due to pulsing of both radio-frequency (rf) and magnetic fields. However, that is of no concern for protons with the use of high-current pulsed sources. For heavy-ion therapy, the ion source can be an electron beam ion source (EBIS), which can produce high-current, fully charge-stripped and pulsed heavy ions. A study was carried out to evaluate a feasible design of superconducting synchrocyclotron system. If the low cost of a synchrocyclotron and well-advanced superconducting technology are considered, superconducting synchrocyclotron combined with an EBIS can be a legitimate candidate for a next-generation heavyion therapy machine.