US 12,245,357 B2
Compact linac
Graeme Burt, Cheshire (GB); Boris Militsyn, Cheshire (GB); Alejandro Castilla Loeza, Cheshire (GB); and Shadike Saitiniyazi, Cheshire (GB)
Assigned to LANCASTER UNIVERSITY, (GB)
Appl. No. 18/248,634
Filed by UNITED KINGDOM RESEARCH AND INNOVATION, Wiltshire (GB)
PCT Filed Oct. 12, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/078176
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 11, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/079028, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 21, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2016200 (GB), filed on Oct. 13, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0413415 A1, Dec. 21, 2023
Int. Cl. H05H 7/02 (2006.01); H05H 7/22 (2006.01); H05H 9/04 (2006.01)
CPC H05H 9/048 (2013.01) [H05H 7/02 (2013.01); H05H 7/22 (2013.01); H05H 2007/025 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A linear accelerator comprising:
an electron source region in which is located an electron source;
a cavity comprising a plurality of cavity cells with each cavity cell linked to an adjacent cavity cell by a RF injection chamber, wherein the cavity is configured to accelerate electrons received from the electron source region through the series of cavity cells with a RF field having an accelerating field amplitude in each of the cavity cells; and
a RF source configured to generate and inject the RF field into the cavity cells via the RF injection chambers that, are configured to couple the RF field between the connected pairs of cavity cells; wherein
the plurality of cavity cells comprises a succession of cavity cells extending from a first cavity cell of the plurality of cavity cells that receives electrons generated by the electron source to a final cavity cell of the plurality of cavity cells;
the plurality of cavity cells comprises a capture section, comprising the first cavity cell and a second cavity cell, and an acceleration section, comprising the final cavity cell and a plurality of cavity cells immediately preceding the final cavity cell, and the length of each cavity cell in the capture section is shorter than the length of each cavity cell in the acceleration section;
the cavity is configured such that, when the RF source injects the RF field into the cavity cells, the field amplitude in the capture section is a lower field amplitude and such that the field amplitude in the acceleration section is a higher field amplitude relative to the lower field amplitude in the capture section;
a pair of passages couple each RF injection chamber to its connected cavity cells with one passage coupling the RF injection chamber to one of the connected cavity cells and the other passage coupling the RF injection chamber to the other of the connected cavity cells; and
a first RF injection chamber couples the first cavity cell to the second cavity cell; and the length of the passage between the first RF injection chamber and the first cavity cell is longer than the length of each passage between the RF injection chambers and the cavity cells of the acceleration section.