FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT FOR DE-FG02-05ER64097 Systems and Methods for Injecting Helium Beams into a Synchrotron Accelerator

Abstract

A research grant was approved to fund development of requirements and concepts for extracting a helium-ion beam at the LLUMC proton accelerator facility, thus enabling the facility to better simulate the deep space environment via beams sufficient to study biological effects of accelerated helium ions in living tissues. A biologically meaningful helium-ion beam will be accomplished by implementing enhancements to increase the acceleratorâÂÂs maximum proton beam energy output from 250MeV to 300MeV. Additional benefits anticipated from the increased energy include the capability to compare possible benefits from helium-beam radiation treatment with proton-beam treatment, and to provide a platform for developing a future proton computed tomography imaging system