The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free electron laser project is currently under construction at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). A new injector and upgrades to the existing accelerator were installed in two phases in 2006 and 2007. We report on the commissioning of the injector, the two new bunch compressors at 250 MeV and 4.3 GeV, and transverse and longitudinal beam ...

An addendum to the AAPM's TG-51 protocol for the determination of absorbed dose to water in megavoltage photon beams is presented. This addendum continues the procedure laid out in TG-51 but new kQ data for photon beams, based on Monte Carlo simulations, are presented and recommendations are given to improve the accuracy and consistency of the protocol's implementation. The components of the un...

One option in building a future 500 GeV c.m. linear collider is to use superconducting 1.3 GHz 9-cell cavities. However, wakefields excited by the bunch train in the TESLA (TeV-Energy Super Conducting Linear Accelerator) collider can resonantly drive the beam into unstable operation such that a BBU (Beam Break Up) mode results or at the very least significant emittance dilution occurs. The larg...

A dataset range of isocenter congruency verification tests have been examined from a statistical perspective for the purpose of establishing tolerance levels that are meaningful, based on the fundamental limitation of linear accelerator isocentricity and the demands of a high-precision stereotactic radiosurgery program. Using a laser-defined isocenter, a total of 149 individual isocenter congru...

MedAustron is the Austrian center for hadron therapy and non-clinical research. The accelerator design is based on the PIMMS study [1] and features proton beams of up to 800 MeV and carbon ion beams of up to 400 MeV/u. The accelerator is currently being installed and the beam commissioning has started early 2013. The injector comprising three ECR sources, an RFQ and an IH-mode structure has alr...

Several plasma accelerator concepts are reviewed, with emphasis on the Plasma Beat Wave Accelerator (PBWA) and the Plasma Wake Field Accelerator (PWFA). Various accelerator physics issues regarding these schemes are discussed, and numerical examples on laboratory scale experiments are given. The efficiency of plasma accelerators is then revealed with suggestions on improvements. Sources that ca...

Demonstrating the generation of electricity with Accelerator-Driven Subcritical Reactor (ADSR) technology will incur substantial financial risk both from traditional reactor construction uncertainties and new technology uncertainties such as the reliability of the accelerator system. The sensitivity of the economic value of ADSRs to the reliability of the accelerator system is assessed. The eco...

This paper reports on MATLAB Channel Access (MCA) Toolbox – MATLAB [1] interface to EPICS Channel Access (CA) client library. We are developing the toolbox for SPEAR3 accelerator controls, but it is of general use for accelerator and experimental physics applications programming. It is packaged as a MATLAB toolbox to allow easy development of complex CA client applications entirely in MATLAB. T...

background: radiation therapy  uses high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells. photoneutron contamination and induced radioactivity of high energy therapeutic photon beams are considered as the main source of occupational exposure to radiation therapists who works with linear accelerators operating above 10 mv. materials and methods: the gamma dose rates were measured after termination of diff...

J Begg, A George, S Alnaghy, T Causer, T Alharthi, L Glaubes, B Dong, G Goozee, G Liney, L Holloway, P Keall 1 Department of Medical Physics, Liverpool and Macarthur Cancer Therapy Centre and Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, Sydney, Australia, [email protected] 2 Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia 3 Institute of M...