An Energy spread minimization system for microbeam generation in the JAERI AVF cyclotron

Fukuda, Mitsuhiro; Kurashima, Satoshi; Miyawaki, Nobumasa; Okumura, Susumu; Kamiya, Tomihiro; Oikawa, Masakazu*; Nakamura, Yoshiteru; Nara, Takayuki; Agematsu, Takashi; Ishibori, Ikuo; Yoshida, Kenichi; Yokota, Wataru; Arakawa, Kazuo; Kumata, Yukio*; Fukumoto, Yasushi*; Saito, Katsuhiko*

A heavy ion microbeam with energy of hundreds MeV is a significantly useful probe for research in biotechnology. A single-ion hitting technique using a 260 MeV Ne microbeam is being developed at the JAERI AVF cyclotron facility for biofunction elucidation. Production of a microbeam with a spot size of one micro-meter in diameter requires reducing the energy spread of the beam to 0.02 % to minimize an effect of chromatic aberrations in focusing lenses. The typical energy spread of the cyclotron beam is around 0.1 % in an ordinary acceleration mode using a sinusoidal voltage waveform. The energy spread can be reduced by superimposing the fifth-harmonic voltage waveform on the fundamental one to generate a flattop waveform for uniform energy gain. We have designed an additional coaxial cavity to generate the fifth-harmonic voltage, coupled to the main resonator of one-fourth wavelength coaxial type. In a power test we successfully observed the fifth-harmonic voltage waveform by picking up an acceleration voltage signal.