FFAGs and synchrotrons for proton therapy:a comparative study
2015
Accelerators play a key role in the delivery of radiotherapy for treatment of cancer
and other medical conditions. Proton therapy has the benefit of more localised delivery
of dose to deep seated tumour volumes in comparison to treatment using x-rays or
electrons. The accelerators currently used for proton therapy are cyclotrons and synchrotrons,
which each have certain advantages and disadvantages. It has been proposed
that accelerators of a fixed field alternating gradient (FFAG) design may combine some
of the advantages and avoid some of the disadvantages of the existing machines. This
thesis looks at the use of synchrotrons as a benchmark for the delivery of proton therapy,
and then at how FFAGs may improve upon treatment delivery. Particular attention is
paid to the beam dynamics issues, including comparisons between simulations and experimental
data taken with the EMMA non-scaling FFAG at Daresbury. The results
of the comparisons show that simulation is able to predict the behaviour of a particle
bunch in a real machine. The simulation tools are then used to evaluate the design
of FFAGs incorporating resonant extraction techniques. In principle, resonant extraction
could overcome some problems of kicker based extraction methods. The design
study highlights technical challenges that would need to be overcome before resonant
extraction could be implemented as a beneficial method for a proton therapy FFAG.
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