Dynamitron

The Dynamitron® is a particle accelerator developed by IBA Industrial, (formerly Radiation Dynamics) in the 1960s. Depending on configuration it can either accelerate electrons or positive ions.

The Dynamitron's accelerating column is contained within a pressure vessel filled with high pressure Sulfur Hexafluoride insulating gas. The column is composed of a number of rectifier tubes, assembled in cascades. Semi-circular corona rings are attached to the anode and cathode of each rectifier in the cascade. Two rf electrodes are mounted near the inner surface of the tank. This circuit, with a resonance frequency around 100 kHz, is coupled inductively with an oscillator. Because of its high power, the oscillator sits in a separate tank. Parallel coupling of the cascade to the liners is accomplished through the electrode to corona ring capacitance. The main advantage of this parallel coupling design is that it allows a much higher beam current to be transported than a typical Cockcroft–Walton style accelerator.

The most common industrial applications of the Dynamitron® are crosslinking and sterilization. The Dynamitron® has a very large installed base, with more than 200 units, primarily in the US.

A number of Dynamitrons have been installed in university research settings including the University of Birmingham in the UK and Tohoku University in Japan[1] A modern research application for Dynamitrons is as a high intensity neutron source. They are particularly suited for neutron production via the Lithium (p,n) reaction with potential applications in neutron imaging, activation analysis and Boron Neutron Capture Therapy.

The Dynamitron® has been built in several models, with maximum particle energies ranging from 550 keV to 5 MeV.

References

APPLICATION OF ACCELERATORS IN RESEARCH AND INDUSTRY: 17TH International Conference on the Application of Accelerators in Research and Industry R. A. Galloway, S. DeNeuter, T. F. Lisanti, and M. R. Cleland

S. Matsuyama, K. Ishii, M. Fujisawa, Y. Kawamura, S. Tsuboi, K. Yamanaka, M. Watanabe, Y. Hashimoto, S. Ohkura, M. Fujikawa, T. Nagaya, K. Komatsu, H. Yamazaki, Y. Kikuchi, Upgrading of the 4.5 MV Dynamitron accelerator at Tohoku University for microbeam and nanobeam applications, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Volume 267, Issues 12–13, 15 June 2009, Pages 2060-2064