Compact Accelerators

A special issue of Instruments (ISSN 2410-390X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 627

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA
Interests: accelerator science and technology; free-electron lasers; advanced radar technology

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Guest Editor
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
Interests: accelerator physics; mono-energetic gamma ray; neutron imaging

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce this Special Issue devoted to the development of compact accelerators for industrial, medical, and national security applications. To provide focus to this broad area, we plan to limit this Special Issue to accelerators that have energies of a couple hundred MeV or less. We wish to solicit papers on the development of electron accelerators that would be suitable for non-destructive testing, replacements for radioactive isotopes, medical therapy, medical device and food sterilization, and coherent narrow-band X-ray generation, among other applications. We also wish to solicit papers on the development of proton and other ion accelerators that would be suitable for medical therapy and active interrogation, among other applications. Developments in increasing the wall-plug efficiency and power capabilities of compact systems, as well as advances in the autonomous control of small accelerators, are of interest. We especially invite you to contribute papers on novel work in the following areas:

  • Technology developments in accelerator subsystems that reduce the size, increase the efficiency, or support autonomous control of compact accelerators;
  • Compact accelerators with applications for oncology treatment or nondestructive testing;
  • Compact accelerators with applications for narrow-band X-ray generation;
  • Compact accelerators with applications for sterilization and food processing;
  • Compact accelerators with applications for active interrogation and imaging at ports of entry;
  • Compact accelerator-based neutron generators for detection of nuclear materials;
  • Compact electron accelerators with applications for very high-energy electron (VHEE) FLASH radiotherapy;
  • Compact proton cyclotrons with applications for radiotherapy;
  • Compact accelerators for space applications.

Dr. Bruce E. Carlsten
Dr. Roark Marsh
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • compact accelerators
  • industrial accelerators
  • medical accelerators

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

23 pages, 9651 KB  
Article
An Alvarez-Type Linac Configuration for Future Carbon and Helium Ion Therapy Facilities with Parallel Radioisotope Production
by Lazar Nikitovic, Maurizio Vretenar and Toms Torims
Instruments 2026, 10(1), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/instruments10010016 - 7 Mar 2026
Viewed by 280
Abstract
The increasing demand for ion beams heavier than protons—particularly carbon and helium ions—for cancer therapy has driven the development of advanced accelerator technologies. Although proton therapy is well established, its physical properties limit its effectiveness against certain tumor types, thereby motivating the use [...] Read more.
The increasing demand for ion beams heavier than protons—particularly carbon and helium ions—for cancer therapy has driven the development of advanced accelerator technologies. Although proton therapy is well established, its physical properties limit its effectiveness against certain tumor types, thereby motivating the use of ions with higher linear energy transfer (LET) and greater biological effectiveness. This study presents the design of an Alvarez-type linear accelerator configuration that combines a Quasi-Alvarez Drift Tube Linac (QA-DTL) and a conventional Alvarez Drift Tube Linac (DTL). The proposed systems are intended for accelerating and injecting carbon or helium ions into a cancer therapy synchrotron, as well as accelerating helium ions for radioisotope production. The optimized QA-DTL and DTL structures provide a versatile and efficient solution for future particle therapy facilities, addressing the growing demand for compact, high-performance, and multifunctional accelerator systems. The proposed linac configurations are designed to operate at 352.2 MHz and consist of three sections. For accelerating low-velocity ions, the first section is a QA-DTL, which is the only section powered during the injection of carbon or helium ions (depending on configuration) into the therapy synchrotron at the energy of 5 MeV/u. The QA-DTL is followed by two DTL cavities forming the second and third sections, which further accelerate helium ions to energies of up to 7.1 MeV/u and 10 MeV/u, respectively. The energy of 7.1 MeV/u is chosen because it represents the production threshold of 211At, one of the most promising alpha emitters for targeted alpha therapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Compact Accelerators)
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