EUCLID TECHLABS, LLC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 24a

Description

The cost of the accelerating waveguide in modern medical accelerators and industrial linacs is substantial. This comes to no surprise as the accelerating waveguide is a set of diamond – turned copper resonators brazed together. Such a multistep manufacturing process not only expensive, but also prone to manufacturing errors, which decrease the production yield. In the big picture, the cost of accelerating waveguide prohibits the use of accelerators as a replacement option for radioactive isotopes. This is especially true for systems intended for operation in an environment with electricity, temperature, humidity and water supply issues. Ultimately, an inexpensive and robust accelerator is needed. Euclid Techlabs LLC proposes a revolutionary brazeless accelerating structure made out of copper- plated stainless steel or tungsten cells with copper irises serving as gaskets for vacuum and RF seals. Skipping the brazing step and using stainless steel components reduces cost compared to copper. Because of a smaller half-value layer for stainless steel or tungsten, the shielding weight is also reduced. Brazeless design allows the addition of cooling channels and embedded focusing magnets for performance optimization. Embedded focusing/steering elements allow for a small bore, lower current focusing coil for a significant weight and space reduction. In Phase I we will design and fabricate a proof-of-principle prototype of an accelerating waveguide operating at an energy of 1 MeV. This will be a full accelerating structure with integrated microwave coupler which also will be brazeless. This prototype will be cold tested and prepared for a beam test. Besides the industrial application, this robust and inexpensive accelerator will find application as an isotope replacement. Due to increased regulations imposed by US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) there are additional indirect expenses associated with radionuclide based sources. These expenses are associated with the disposal of the radionuclide source of the irradiator. The proposed inexpensive design makes radiation-on-demand accelerator – based gamma ray sources commercially viable.