cyclotron
Sign in to save300px|thumb|right|Lawrence's cyclotron, , showing the beam of accelerated ions (likely [[protons or deuterons) exiting the machine and ionizing the surrounding air causing a blue glow]]
AI overview
A cyclotron is a machine that uses magnetic fields to accelerate charged particles like protons to very high speeds in a spiral path. It matters because it can produce energetic particle beams useful for research and practical applications, as shown by the blue glow in this image where accelerated ions ionize the surrounding air.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
38 sectionsContents
- History
- Origins
- During World War II
- Post-war
- Principle of operation
- Cyclotron principle
- Particle energy
- K-factor
- Particle trajectory
- Stability and focusing
- Transverse stability and focusing
- Longitudinal stability
- Relativistic considerations
- Approaches to relativistic cyclotrons
- Synchrocyclotron
- Isochronous cyclotron
- Fixed-field alternating gradient accelerator (FFA)
- Classifications
- Cyclotron types
- Beam types
- Target types
- Usage
- Basic research
- Medical uses
- Radioisotope production
- Beam therapy
- Advantages and limitations
- Notable examples
- Superconducting cyclotron examples
- Related technologies
- In fiction
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
- External links
- Current facilities
- Historic cyclotrons
300px|thumb|right|Lawrence's cyclotron, , showing the beam of accelerated ions (likely [[protons or deuterons) exiting the machine and ionizing the surrounding air causing a blue glow]]
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. A cyclotron accelerates charged particles outwards from the center of a flat cylindrical vacuum chamber along a spiral path. The particles are held to a spiral trajectory by a static magnetic field and accelerated by a rapidly varying electric field. Lawrence was awarded the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics for this invention.