Development of the compact electron cyclotron resonance ion source for heavy-ion therapy

Carbon–ion cancer treatment is successfully being made at the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC). Design philosophy for the ion sources for medical facilities are as follows: (1) sufficient beam intensity, a few hundred e μA; (2) long lifetime with good stability; (3) easy operation and easy maintenance; and (4) compactness. In order to develop such source for future heavy-ion facilities, we have tested compact electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources using permanent magnets both for axial and radial confinement of hot electrons. Since the yield of C2+ ion in the first developed source (2.45 GHz ECR) was 15 e μA and far below the medical requirement (∼150 e μA for the HIMAC), a new source has been proposed, having a frequency of 10 GHz. The extracted intensity of C4+ (and C2+) ions is expected to be higher than 200 e μA.