Experimental study on the electric-sweep scanner and ion beam emittance of electron cyclotron resonance ion source

With a latest developed electric-sweep scanner system, we have done a lot of experiments for studying this scanner system and ion beam emittance of electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source. The electric-sweep scanner system was installed on the beam line of Lanzhou electron resonance ion source No. 3 experimental platform of Institute of Modem Physics. The repetition experiments have proven that the system is a relatively dependable and reliable emittance scanner, and its experiment error is about 10%. We have studied the influences of the major parameters of ECR ion source on the extracted ion beam emittance. The typical results of the experiments and the conclusions are presented in this article.

Beam dynamics design of an RFQ for a planned accelerator, which uses a direct plasma injection scheme

To meet the requirements of providing high-intensity heavy ion beams the direct plasma injection scheme (DPIS) was proposed by a RIKEN-CNS-TIT collaboration. In this scheme a radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) was joined directly with the laser ion source (LIS) without a low-energy beam transport (LEBT) line. To find the best design of the RFQ that will have short length, high transmission efficiency and small emittance growth, beam dynamics designs with equipartitioning design strategy and with matched-only design strategy have been performed, and a comparison of their results has also been done. Impacts of the input beam parameters on transmission efficiency are presented, too. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prolate and oblate shape coexistence in Pt-188

A standard in-beam gamma-spectroscopy experiment for Pt-188 is performed via the Yb-176(O-18, 6n) reaction at beam energies of 88 and 95 MeV, and the level scheme for (188) Pt is established. Prolate and oblate shape coexistence has been demonstrated to occur in Pt-188 by applying the projected shell model. The rotation alignment of i(13/2) neutrons drives the yrast sequence changing suddenly from prolate to oblate shape at angular momentum 10th, indicating likely a new type of shape phase transition along the yrast line in Pt-188.

Beam matching between SFC and SSC

The beam matching status between the two isochronous cyclotrons in the Heavy Ion Research Facility at the Lanzhou-Cooling Storage Ring (HIRFL-CSR) is described. Several methods which can be used to accomplish 100% matching are proposed. By comparing of them, the best method is determined. The advantage due to this method is discussed.

Development of an intermediate energy heavy-ion micro-beam irradiation system

The micro-beam irradiation system, which focuses the beam down to micron order and precisely delivers a predefined number of ions to a predefined spot of micron order, is a powerful tool for radio-biology, radio-biomedicine and micromachining. The Institute of Modern Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences is developing a heavy-ion microbeam irradiation system up to intermediate energy. Based on the intermediate and low energy beam provided by Heavy Ion Research Facility of Lanzhou, the micro-beam system takes the form of the magnetic focusing. The heavy-ion beam is conducted to the basement by a symmetrical achromatic system consisting of two vertical bending magnets and a quadrupole in between. Then a beam spot of micron order is formed by a magnetic triplet quadrupole of very high gradient. The sample can be irradiated either in vacuum or in the air. This system will be the first opening platform capable of providing heavy ion micro-beam, ranging from low (10MeV/u) to intermediate energy (100MeV/u), for irradiation experiment with positioning and counting accuracy. Target material may be biology cell, tissue or other non-biological materials. It will be a help for unveiling the essence of heavy-ion interaction with matter and also a new means for exploring the application of heavy-ion irradiation.

Advance in in-beam PET

Tumor radiotherapy was a promising modality and over 100 years. Beams of heavy-charged particles show high RBE advantages and become the optimum tool for tumors therapy. Newly, along with the development of accelerators, scintillators, micro-electronics and computers, the heavy ion tumor therapy has been recognized more and developed.

First results of SECRAL at 18GHz for intense beam production of highly charged ions

A Superconducting ECR ion source with Advanced design in Lanzhou (SECRAL) was successfully built to produce intense beams of highly charged ions for Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL). The ion source has been optimized to be operated at 28GHz for its maximum performance. The superconducting magnet confinement configuration of the ion source consists of three axial solenoid coils and six sextupole coils with a cold iron structure as field booster and clamping. For 28GHz operation, the magnet assembly can produce peak mirror fields on axis 3.6T at injection, 2.2T at extraction and a radial sextupole field of 2.0T at plasma chamber wall. A unique feature of SECRAL is that the three axial solenoid coils are located inside of the sextupole bore in order to reduce the interaction forces between the sextupole coils and the solenoid coils. During the ongoing commissioning phase at 18GHz with a stainless steel chamber, tests with various gases and some metals have been conducted with microwave power less than 3.2kW and it turned out the performance is very promising. Some record ion beam intensities have been produced, for instance, 810e mu A of O7+, 505e mu A of Xe20+, 306e mu A of Xe27+, 21e mu A of Xe34+, 2.4e mu A of Xe38+ and so on. To reach better results for highly charged ion beams, further modifications such as an aluminium chamber with better cooling, higher microwave power and a movable extraction system will be done, and also emittance measurements are being prepared.

Research on metallic ion beam production at IMP

Since 1998, many experiments for metallic ion production have been done on LECR2 (Lanzhou ECR ion source NO.2), LECR3 (Lanzhou ECR ion source NO.3) and SECRAL (Superconductiong ECR ion source Advanced design in Lanzhou) at Institute of Modern Physics. The very heavy metallic ion beams such as those of uranium were also produced by the plasma sputtering method, and supplied for HIRFL (Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou) accelerators successfully. During the test, 11.5e mu AU(28+), 9e mu AU(24+) were obtained. Some ion beams of the metal having lower melting temperature such as Ni and Mg ion beams were produced by oven method on LECR3 too. The consumption rate was controlled to be lower for Mg-26 ion beams production, and the minimum consumption was about 0.3mg per hour. In this paper, the main experimental results are given. Some discussions are made for some experimental phenomena and results, and some conclusions are drawn.

Capability verification of the beam delivery system in the superficially-placed tumor therapy terminal at HIRFL

The passive beam delivery system in the superficially-placed tumor therapy terminal at Heavy Ion Researc h Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL), which includes two orthogonal dipole magnets as scanning system, a motor-driven energy degrader as range-shifter, series of ridge filters as range modulator and a multileaf collimator, is introduced in detail. The capacities of its important components and the whole system have been verified experimentally. The tests of the ridge filter for extending Bragg peak and the range shifter for energy adjustment show both work well. To examine the passive beam delivery system, a beam shaping experiment were carried out, simulating a three-dimensional (3D) conformal irradiation to a tumor. The encouraging experimental result confirms that 3D layer-stacking conformal irradiation can be performed by means of the passive system. The validation of the beam delivery system establishes a substantial basis for upcoming clinical trial for superficially-placed tumors with heavy ions in the therapy terminal at HIRFL.

Pre-irradiation with low-dose C-12(6+) beam significantly enhances the efficacy of AdCMV-p53 gene therapy in human non-small lung cancer

The combination of ionizing radiation and gene therapy has been investigated. However, there are very few reports about the combination of heavy-ion irradiation and gene therapy. To determine if the pre-exposure to low-dose heavy ion beam enhances the suppression of AdCMV-p53 on non-small lung cancer (NSLC), the cells pre-irradiated or non-irradiated were infected with 20, 40 MOI of AdCMV-p53. Survival fraction and the relative biology effect (RBE) were determined by clonogenic assay. The results showed that the proportions of p53 positive cells in C-12(6+) beam induced AdCMV-p53 infected cells were more than 90%, which were significantly more than those in gamma-ray induced AdCMV-p53 infected cells. The pre-exposure to low-dose 12C6+ beam significantly prevented the G(0)/G(1) arrest and activated G(2)/M checkpoints. The pre-exposure to C-12(6+) beam significantly improved cell to apoptosis. RBEs for the C-12(6+)+ AdCMV-p53 infection groups were 30%-60%,20% -130% and 30%-70% more than those for the C-12(6+)_irradiated only, AdCMV-p53 infected only, and gamma-irradiation induced AdCMVp53 infected groups, respectively. The data suggested that the pre-exposure to low-dose C-12(6+) beam significantly promotes exogenous p53 expression in NSLC, and the suppression of AdCMV-p53 gene therapy on NSLC.