Applications of Particle Accelerators

Transcription

1 Applications of Particle Accelerators Prof. Rob Edgecock STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory EMMA Accelerator at Daresbury Laboratory

2 Applications >30000 accelerators in use world-wide: 44% for radiotherapy 41% for ion implantation 9% for industrial applications 4% low energy research 1% medical isotope production <1% research Treating cancer Making better semi-conductors

3 Applications >30000 accelerators in use world-wide: 44% for radiotherapy 41% for ion implantation 9% for industrial applications 4% low energy research 1% medical isotope production <1% research Curing materials; sterilisation; carbon dating; treating flue gases; treating water; etc

4 Applications >30000 accelerators in use world-wide: 44% for radiotherapy 41% for ion implantation 9% for industrial applications 4% low energy research 1% medical isotope production <1% research Microanalysis of materials, mass spectroscopy, PIXE, etc

5 Applications >30000 accelerators in use world-wide: 44% for radiotherapy 41% for ion implantation 9% for industrial applications 4% low energy research 1% medical isotope production <1% research For PET and SPECT medical imaging, etc

6 Applications >30000 accelerators in use world-wide: 44% for radiotherapy 41% for ion implantation 9% for industrial applications 4% low energy research 1% medical isotope production <1% research $0.5T/year

7 Introduction to Cancer It starts with mutations of a single cell typically 6 are required to make it cancerous Mutations accumulate over time Can occur by accident Usually requires a carcinogen tobacco (50) car fumes the sun many chemicals radiation etc etc

8 Some Statistics 250k new cases/year in the UK 1 in 3 people will suffer from it 1 in 4 deaths result from it Survival rates improving, but some are very poor!

9 Treatments Cancer therapy: It s all about minimising collateral damage! Killing or removing just cancerous cells Damage to healthy cells leads to side-effects Three main types: surgery radiotherapy chemotherapy usually in combination Uses beams of ionising radiation X-rays, electrons, protons, light ions,... Usually produced externally and directed onto tumour

10 Radiotherapy Ionisation from radiation kills cells in two ways Multiple DNA chain breaks preferred

11 Radiotherapy Standard radiotherapy uses X-rays Created using electron linear accelerator Energy ~6-20 MeV X-rays produced in metal foil Typical treatment: ~60Gy Delivered in fractions of ~2Gy

12 Dose Localisation Second most successful treatment after surgery! Damage to healthy tissue: side-effects! But... healthy cells have more repair mechanisms Fractions and IMRT It s possible to do better!

13 Dose Localisation Second most successful treatment after surgery!

14 Dose Localisation Medulloblastoma in a child (MD Anderson) 100% 60% Probability of secondary tumours Radiotherapy 55% 10% IMRT 31% Proton therapy 5.1% IMPT 4.4%

15 Dose Localisation

16 Dose Localisation

17 Charged Particle Therapy Called charged particle therapy Obvious (to a physicist): must be better than x-rays! Why don t we hear more about it? Energy Accelerator X-rays Protons Carbon 10MeV 250MeV 4800MeV linac cyclotron synchrotron

18 Charged Particle Therapy Called charged particle therapy Obvious (to a physicist): must be better than x-rays! Why don t we hear more about it? X-rays Protons Carbon Energy 10MeV 250MeV 4800MeV Accelerator linac cyclotron synchrotron Cost $2-5M ~$40M >$100M Number ~ (1) 6 (0) New 18 (2-3?) 4 (0) Requirement 1/10M 1/25M

19 C D UK Situation Douglas Cyclotron earth perimeter mound Radiation Hazards Controlled Area Supervised Area Fire Exits proton room E F G Proton treatment room neutron gantry link corridor linac M 10-6 Cyclotron vault M5.1 Waiting Area Former neutron gantry bunker Waiting Area Patient Toilets F-18 decanting rig

20 UK Situation

21 Contributions from Particle Physics (Almost) everything covered: physics! Most accelerator types invented for Particle Physics Technology largely driven by Particle Physics Much interest in use for applications Many projects World-wide An example: Unique type of accelerator Mixture between a cyclotron and synchrotron

22 EMMA Diagnostics beam line EMMA ring: beam makes 5 to 100+ turns in this Section of ALICE Proof-of-principle: cheapest option! Electron acceleration: 10 to 20 MeV Built in DL Injection line: transports beam from ALICE to EMMA

23 EMMA

24 Medical Applications Smaller, cheaper and/or better than current accelerators Four machines being designed: 8 MeV for PET isotope production 14 MeV for SPECT isotope production 330 MeV for pct 4.8 GeV for carbon therapy 8 MeV, 1.6m diameter 330 MeV, 11m diameter 4.8 GeV, 9m diameter

25 Conclusions Accelerators are used for many things There are a lot of them about Significant recent improvements to cancer therapy Radiotherapy very important Possible to make better: new particles better accelerators better techniques for imaging and dosimetry Technology from Particle Physics being transfered Lots of interest in this topic 560 at recent conference organised by CERN