Experimental Study of an Ion Cyclotron Resonance Accelerator

The Ion Cyclotron Resonance Accelerator (ICRA) uses a novel geometry which combines the radial confinement and azimuthal acceleration of cyclotrons together with the axial drift used in gyrotrons. Use of a common NbTi superconducting solenoid and an rf driven magnetron structure lead to a simple, lightweight, and compact machine that could be designed for portability. An ICRA designed to accelerate protons to 10 MeV would be ideal for production of PET isotopes or as an accelerator based neutron source. As a demonstration of the concept, an ICRA has been built that accelerates a proton beam to 50 keV. This paper presents the 50 keV design and gives experimental results.