Dovbnya, A.N.

Khizhnyak, N.A.

Ranyuk, Yu.N.

Yegorov, A.M.

Наукова електронна бібліотека періодичних видань НАН України (Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine)

TO THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF STARTING UP THE FIRST LINEAR ACCELERATORS AT NSC KIPTA.N. Dovbnya, A.M. Yegorov, Yu.N. Ranyuk, N.A. KhizhnyakNational Science Center “Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology”,1 Akademicheskaya St., Kharkov 61108, UkrainePACS numbers: 29.17.+w, 01.65.+gThe USSR’s first high-frequency linear accelerators of protons, electrons and multiply charged ions were de-signed  and  constructed  at  the  Kharkov  Institute  of Physics and Technology, which quickly recovered with the end of German occupation and since 1946 has re-sumed its research work. K.D. Sinel’nikov, the then Di-rector  of  the  Institute,  assembled  a  team of  scientists with initiative, who began studies on linear methods of charged particle acceleration, as in the war years there appeared high-frequency generators of electromagnetic waves so needed for linear accelerators. As early as in 1947-1948 there also appeared the first theoretical de-velopments  aimed at  providing a stable interaction of charged beams with the electromagnetic wave field.Beginning from 1950 the Institute was reinforced by young  specialists  -  graduates  from  a  special  section (opened in 1948) at the Physics-Mathematics Faculty of the Kharkov State University (KhSU). The young physi-cists were trained in advanced branches of physics by the KIPT specialists. Further on, that section turned into an independent KhSU Physico-Technical Faculty. The authors of the present survey are all the graduates of dif-ferent years from this faculty of the KhSU. In the KhSU lecture-rooms and in the KIPT laboratories there were continuous discussions about physical transformations, electromagnetic  processes,  weak  and  strong  interac-tions.And only recently, when the archives of the Ministry of Middle Mechanical Engineering were disclosed, we have come to know about the second line of the activi-ties previously impermissible for any discussions.In  fact,  in  those  years  when the  country  was  just healing its wounds inflicted by the war, the Soviet Gov-ernment  allocated great  funds for  the  development of physical  science.  Of  course,  everyone realized  that  it was for the nuclear energy, but why was that great at-tention to the accelerator physics?And at present, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the  onset  of  wide-scale  investigations  in  accelerator physics,  one cannot remain emotionless when reading the first decrees of the Soviet Government on the devel-opment of work to be aimed at designing and creating those accelerators. Now imagine the situation... The first post-war years, the world is divided into two camps, the former allies in  the anti-Hitler  coalition have  become adversaries.  The  Unites  States  are  the  monopolist  in possessing the nuclear weapons. They discuss there the plans of striking nuclear blows against the USSR, cities are chosen as first-turn targets for nuclear attack. In the USSR, all the efforts are directed to protect the country against the nuclear assault. It was natural that the main efforts were aimed at  creating own atomic bomb, but there was none as yet. Different variants of repulsing the nuclear attack were being discussed, and then physicists put  forward  an  idea  of  creating  a  new  anti-aircraft weapon. On the initiative of Academician N.N. Semy-onov, a future Nobel Prize winner, the proposal was for-mulated to create the “AAI” - a new-type anti-aircraft installation  using  accelerated  particle  beams.  It  may now appear incredible, but that proposal gave birth to the governmental decision, now unclassified and pub-lished in the documents concerning the “Atomic project in the USSR, part II, an atomic bomb, 1945-1954”[1]. “Decree of the USSR Council of Ministers N3092-1249,“On conduction of scientific research work to elucidate the possibility of implementing the AAI installation”Moscow, the Kremlin      15 August, 1948                                        Strictly confidential                                       (Special briefcase)The USSR Council of Ministers decrees:1. To charge the Chemical Physics Institute (c. Semy-onov), Institute of Physics (c. Vavilov), Laboratory N2 USSR AS (cs. Meshcheryakov and Mints) and Laboratory  N1  of  Physico-Technical  Institute UkrSSR AS (c. Sinel’nikov) with the task to ensure over the period of 1948-1949 the fulfilment of re-search work associated with looking into the possi-bility of implementing the “AAI” according to the subject program developed by Academician Semy-onov N.N.2. To place the supervision and co-ordination of the research work on elucidation of the possibility of implementing the “AAI” on the Chemical Physics Institute (c. Semyonov).3. To charge the Chemical Physics Institute (c. Semy-onov) with the following tasks:a)  by  1  October,  1948,  together  with  Institute  of Physics  (c.  Vavilov),  Laboratory  N2  USSR  AS (cs. Meshcheryakov  and  Mints),  Laboratory  N1  of Physico-Technical Institute UkrSSR AS (c. Sinel’nikov) and Committee N3 at the USSR Council of Ministers (c. Shchukin), to draw up verified programs of activities to ensure the fulfillment of the subject program of work, attached herewith;b) to provide, within the Chemical Physics Institute power (c. Semyonov) a further theoretical development of the problems concerning the “AAI” with the use of additional data and information as they are obtained;c) quarterly, starting from November, 1948, to sub-mit the reports on the progress of work at the “AAI” to the USSR Council of Ministers. 4. To charge Committee N3 at the USSR Council of Ministers (c. Shchukin), the Ministry of Armaments (c. Ustinov) with the task of performing theoretical ВОПРОСЫ АТОМНОЙ НАУКИ И ТЕХНИКИ. 2001. №3.Серия: Ядерно-физические исследования (38), с. 3-5.3calculation work mentioned in the Attachment un-der the assignment of the Chemical Physics Insti-tute (c. Semyonov).Chairman of the USSRCouncil of Ministers I.StalinBusiness Managerat the USSR Council of Ministers Ya.Chadayev”Then a detailed subject program follows, where item 6) reads as:“- Development of the design of the linear accelerator for 500 MeV deuterons and for 1 GeV protons with a sustained current of no less than 10 µA or an intermit-tent current of no less than 80 µA: calculations and de-sign of the unit, - 1948- Construction of the type accelerator unit with a par-ticle beam from the Van de Graaff tube and the cy-clotron. - 1949There exists one more government decree, this being of 1954, where again the linear accelerators, including electron linacs, are involved, but now with another line of their applicability.These  documents  directly  concern  our  history  and now, particularly, in connection with the jubilee, it is of interest to discuss them from two points of view. 1. Were the problems posed in those decrees realizable?2. How will the solution of the problems posed before the Institute influence the development of the Institute itself and its workers, too?3.  Have  the  problems  discussed  50  years  ago  any prospects now?It is nowadays quite natural for each student to an-swer that the energy losses by the charged beam in the atmosphere  are  so  great  that  nobody will  ever  try  to “pierce” the atmosphere with accelerated particles. But is it possible that only 50 years ago our scientists did not know this truth? We think they did know, because this is the truth for both the students and the majority of sci-entific workers, not to say about Academicians. In our opinion, for no special reason nobody would ever try to “pierce” the atmosphere by shooting at it. If the acceler-ators with the parameters mentioned in the decree could be created, then another problem would arise, namely, creation of a channel in the atmosphere to pass the ac-celerated particles. In those years this problem was not yet discussed, but 10 - 20 years later this problem arose, though for other purposes. So, the first question can be answered  as  follows:  the  problem had  no straightfor-ward solution, because there were no accelerators with those  parameters  and  there  were  no  evident  ways  to guide the accelerated beam to the target. And neverthe-less, the decree was approved and great teams of scien-tists  appeared  involved  in  the  problem of  accelerator creation.It should be stressed that the idea of a linear charged particle  accelerator  was  first  published  as  early  as  in 1928 by the Norwegian physicist Wideroe. But in prac-tice, it was realized in 1946 for an energy of 30 MeV by the  American  physicist  L.  Alvarez  in  Berkeley (Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, California University, USA).And  as  soon  as  in  1948,  the  design  of  a  similar 1000 MeV  accelerator  was  prescribed  in  the  govern-ment decree, the KIPT being charged with the task of the accelerator development and construction. In 1950, the 20 MeV Alvarez-type accelerator was put into oper-ation [2], however, its parameters were more than mod-est (in beam current and divergence), and at once new problems arose. Some of them were immediately solved [3],  others  called for  long-standing investigations  that fell outside the scope of the problem being solved, still others remained unsolved until now. Thus, an injection energy of about 1 MeV required the development and construction  of  small-size  accelerators-injectors.  The KIPT scientists,  having an experience in the develop-ment of electrostatic open-type Van de Graaff accelera-tors,  decided  to  develop  a  pressure-insulated  Van  de Graaff accelerator. The first accelerator-injector of this kind was just made for the proton linear accelerator, and it has proved its worth. Based on this design, a succes-sion of pressurized electrostatic accelerators were devel-oped by the Yefremov Electrophysical Apparatus Insti-tute; they were supplied to all the leading nuclear cen-ters of the USSR. And though there is no longer that very proton accelerator at KIPT (it was taken out of ser-vice and dismantled in the sixties), the electrostatic ac-celerator  was  transformed  to  accelerate  multiply charged ions and it got the name EhSUVI (electrostatic accelerator of multiply charged ions). The correct solu-tion to the problem of injection into proton linear accel-erators was proposed only in the seventies, when an ac-celerator with a uniform quadrupole magnetic focusing was built in Moscow. It has come to be known in the world as an RFQ accelerator. Powerful vacuum pumps were specially designed at KIPT for the accelerators. Later, they served as a basis for vacuum metallurgy, too.The particle focusing in the basic accelerator was re-alized with foils and grids and those focusing elements were the main obstacle  on the way of  obtaining high currents. Then an idea occurred to use beryllium foils as focusing foils. But the beryllium metal started to be pro-duced in small lots by the domestic industry was brittle. A demand for plastic beryllium arose and the problem of creating such a material  was solved at KIPT. True enough, by that time magnetic quadrupole lenses were proposed  and  developed,  they  started  to  be  used throughout the world to focus protons in linear accelera-tors, but ductile beryllium has appeared to be of use for many other applications.And the last. The proton accelerator is energized by meter-band  electromagnetic  oscillations.  Generators were built on the base of lamps generally used in radar engineering, the last ones were of low power and could not provide the needed energization of high-power ac-celerators. In Moscow, special attention was paid to the development  of  new powerful  radio  engineering.  The Radio-Technical Institute was created to meet the needs of both radar engineering and accelerator engineering. Therefore, in the late fifties, the development of high-power proton linear  accelerators  appeared to move to Moscow.4A new vigorous development of proton linear accel-erator at KIPT took place already in the seventies, when it was proposed to create small-size proton accelerators for applied purposes, but those were quite different ac-celerators. The problems remain topical for the investi-gators to-day, though they have no longer that  strong support on the part of the Government.REFERENCES1. Atomic Project of the USSR. Documents and Mate-rials.  (in  Russian).  Part  II,  Book  1.  An  atomic bomb, 1945-1954. / Ed. by L.D. Ryabeva. Moscow-Sarov, 2000.2. K.D.Sinel’nikov,  P.M.Zeidlits,  A.M.Nekrashevich, L.I.Bolotin,  Ya.S.Shutskever,  B.S.Akshanov, N.E.Kovpak,  K.A.Leontovich,  A.I.Akhiezer, I.M.Lifshits,  Ya.B.Fainberg,  L.N.Rozentsveig, G.Ya.Lyubarsky,  M.I.Kaganov,  L.Eh.Pargamanik. A  20.5  MGeV proton  linear  accelerator  (in  Rus-sian) // Tr. Sessii AN UkrSSR po mirnomu ispol’zo-vaniyu atmonoj ehnergii, Kiev, 1958, pp. 5-15.3. A theory and calculation of linear accelerators (in Russian)  /  ed.  by  Academician  A.K.Val’ter, Moscow, Fizmatgiz publ., 1962.ВОПРОСЫ АТОМНОЙ НАУКИ И ТЕХНИКИ. 2001. №3.Серия: Ядерно-физические исследования (38), с. 5-5.5

To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT

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To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT

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Наукова електронна бібліотека періодичних видань НАН України (Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine)