CYCLOTRON

INTRODUCTION:
A cyclotron is a machine Used to accelerate charged particles to
high energies. The first cyclotron was built by Ernest Orlando
Lawrence and his graduate student, M. Stanley Livingston, at
the University of California, Berkley, in the early 1930's.
A cyclotron consists of two D-shaped cavities sandwiched
between two electromagnets. A radioactive source is placed in
the center of the cyclotron and the electromagnets are turned
on. The radioactive source emits charged particles. It just so
happens that a magnetic field can bend the path of a charged
particle so, if everything is just right, the charged particle will
circle around inside the D-shaped cavities. However, this
doesn't accelerate the particle. In order to do that, the two Dshaped cavities have to be hooked up to a radio wave generator.
This generator gives one cavity a positive charge and the other
cavity a negative charge. After a moment, the radio wave
generator switches the charges on the cavities. The charges
keep switching back and forth as long as the radio wave
generator is on. It is this switching of charges that accelerates
the particle.
Let's say that we have an alpha particle inside our cyclotron.
Alpha particles have a charge of +2, so their paths can bent by
magnetic fields. As an alpha particle goes around the cyclotron,
it crosses the gap between the two D-shaped cavities. If the
charge on the cavity in front of the alpha particle is negative
and the charge on the cavity in back of it is positive, the alpha
particle is pulled forward (remember that opposite charges
attract while like charges repel). This just accelerated the alpha
particle! The particle travels through one cavity and again
comes to the gap. With luck, the radio wave generator has
changed the charges on the cavities in time, so the alpha
particle once again sees a negative charge in front of it and a
positive charge in back of it and is again pulled forward. As long
as the timing is right, the alpha particle will always see a
negative charge in front of it and a positive charge in back of it

when it crosses the gap between cavities. This is how a

cyclotron accelerates particles!
A cyclotron consists of two D-shaped regions known as Dee's.
In each dee there is a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane
of the page. In the gap separating the dees there is a uniform
electric field pointing from one dee to the other. When a charge
is released from rest in the gap it is accelerated by the electric
field and carried into one of the dees. The magnetic field in the
dee causes the charge to follow a half-circle that carries it back
to the gap.
While the charge is in the dee the electric field in the gap is
reversed, so the charge is once again accelerated across the gap.
The cycle continues with the magnetic field in the dees
continually bringing the charge back to the gap. Every time the
charge crosses the gap it picks up speed. This causes the halfcircles in the dees to increase in radius, and eventually the
charge emerges from the cyclotron at high speed

PRINCIPLE OF CYCLOTRON :
It is based on the principle that a positive ion can acquire
sufficiently large energy with a comparatively smaller
alternating potential difference by making them to cross the
same electric field time and again by making use of a strong
magnetic field.
DIAGRAM OF CYCLOTRON
The diagram below is a schematic of a cyclotron. Charged
particle starts out at the central point and, for a given magnetic
field perpendicular to the plane of motion, follows circular path.
The cyclotron takes advantage of the fact that the time for the
particle to execute a half-circle is independent of the particle's
velocity. An alternating voltage is applied across the gap
between the two 'De es' (the semicircular regions), so that,when
the particle crosses the gap, the voltage acts to accelerate it.
When the particle gets to the gap again after having completed
half-circle, the voltage has changed sign, and the particle is
once again accelerated. The frequency of the oscillating voltage
must match the cyclotron frequency. In this way, the particle is

always accelerated, completing even bigger circles in the same

time until the beam is extracted at maximum radius. If the
magnetic field has strength 0.95e-02 T and the circulating
particle is an electron, q=-e and m = 9.11e-31 kg, what is the
cyclotron freque

How the cyclotron works

In the cyclotron, a high-frequency alternating voltage applied
across the "D" electrodes (also called "dees") alternately attracts
and repelscharged particles. The particles, injected near the
center of the magnetic field, accelerate only when passing
through
the
gap
between
the
electrodes.
The
perpendicular magnetic field (passing vertically through the "D"
electrodes), combined with the increasing energy of the
particles forces the particles to travel in a spiral path.
dees and so they are accelerated (at the typical sub-relativistic
speeds used) and will increase in mass as they approach the
speed of light. Either of these effects (increased velocity or
increased mass) will increase the radius of the circle and so the
path will be a spiral.
(The particles move in a spiral, because a current of electrons or
ions, flowing perpendicular to a magnetic field, experiences a
force perpendicular to its direction of motion. The charged
particles move freely in a vacuum, so the particles follow a
spiral path.)
The radius will increase until the particles hit a target at the
perimeter of the vacuum chamber. Various materials may be
used for the target, and the collisions will create secondary
particles which may be guided outside of the cyclotron and into
instruments for analysis. The results will enable the calculation
of various properties, such as the mean spacing between atoms
and the creation of various collision products. Subsequent
chemical and particle analysis of the target material may give
insight into nuclear transmutation of the elements used in the
target.

{Cyclotron radiation
Cyclotron radiation is electromagnetic radiation emitted by
moving charge d particles deflected by a magnetic field. The
Lorentz force on the particles acts perpendicular to both the

magnetic field lines and the particles' motion through them,

creating an acceleration of charged particles.
FUNCTIONS:
Cyclotrons have a single electrical driver, which saves both
money and power, since more expense may be allocated to
increasing efficiency.
Cyclotrons produce a continuous stream of particles at the
target, so the average power is relatively high.
The compactness of the device reduces other costs, such as its
foundations, radiation shielding, and the enclosing building.

Advantages of the cyclotron:

Cyclotrons produce a continuous stream of particles at the

target, so the average power is relatively high.
The compactness of the device reduces other costs, such as
its foundations, radiation shielding, and the enclosing building .

Limitations of the cyclotron

The spiral path of the cyclotron beam can only "sync up" with
constant frequency voltage sources if the accelerated particles
are approximately obeying Newton's Laws of Motion.
If the particles become fast enough that relativistic effects
become important, the beam gets out of phase with the
oscillating electric field, and cannot receive any additional
acceleration.
The cyclotron is therefore only capable of accelerating particles
up to a few percent of the speed of light.

}
Use of the cyclotron
cyclotrons were the best source of high-energy beams
for nuclear physics experiments.
Cyclotrons can be used to treat cancer. Ion beams from
cyclotrons can be used, as in proton therapy, to penetrate the
body and kill tumors byradiation damage, while minimizing
damage to healthy tissue along their path.

Cyclotron beams can be used to bombard other atoms to

produce short-lived positron-emitting isotopes suitable for PET
imaging
There are basically two applications for the cyclotron. It's a
particle accelerator, and, though it can be adapted to accelerate
any charged particle, it is most frequently applied to accelerate
positive charges.
The proton, unlike gamma rays, has a depth of penetration that
can be finely tuned (by "tuning" the cyclotron) to limit damage
to other tissues.
The cyclotron is also used to create radioactive materials that
are used as radiation sources which can be implanted. The
radioactive materials can also be used as tracers in medical
work ups and in research, and also to provide "luminosity" in
some imaging because of the way tissue takes up these selected
materials. In the physics laboratory, we use the cyclotron to
create particle streams that we then slam into targets. This is
the continuation of research to investigate the quantum
mechanical world. The cyclotron can be used to "feed" another
or other accelerators to get higher energies and a "bigger bang"
in the world of collisions.