Performance increase for a medical proton beam ECRIS through dual frequency heating at MedAustron ion therapy center

Abstract

Abstract The MedAustron facility, located in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, is a state-of-the-art synchrotron-based particle therapy center that provides irradiation with proton and carbon ion beams in an energy range of 62MeV to 252MeV and 120MeV/u to 402MeV/u, respectively. In order to improve on extracted current and on long term stability, key factors for medical accelerators, the dual frequency heating mode was tested at the source level. Through the use of dual frequency heating an increase in the intensity through the accelerator sections could be achieved, without changing the optics of the overall machine. The use of dual frequency heating has also improved the transmission efficiency from LEBT to LINAC section by 4 %. Across a wider range of input power, beam transmission is elevated when comparing to single frequency heating. As a result of this increased transmission, in room particle count could be improved in comparison to single frequency heating.