Beam dynamics and proton beam test of a 3.4 MeV deuteron IH linac

We are studying IH type linacs for applications in medicine and industry. In the framework of an international cooperation, we designed and tested a 3.4 MeV deuteron linac for PET application. For keeping the costs low, we did not include any focussing elements inside the linac. Radial and longitudinal focussing are done with a kind of Alternating Phase Focussing (APF). Simulations are done with a beam dynamics program to adjust the optimal position of every single gap. In order to achieve a flat gap voltage distribution the linac is constructed in several segments with different diameters to compensate capacity changes along the accelerator axis. A proton beam was successfully accelerated and analysed. The RF power consumption was 3 kW for a total acceleration voltage of 1.6 MeV, which corresponds to an effective shunt impedance of 420 MΩ/m.