Safety around a linear accelerator

Abstract

A linear accelerator system comprising a source arranged to produce a pulsed beam of charged particles, a linear accelerator string arranged to accelerate the pulsed beam up to a predetermined range of energies, and a pre-acceleration stage interposed between the source and the linear accelerator string and arranged to accelerate the pulsed beam up to an energy suitable for beam insertion into the linear accelerator string and perform bunching of the pulsed beam. An average current detector is arranged to measure an average current in the pulsed beam, the average current detector comprising at least one non-interceptive sensor placed at an input side of the linear accelerator string, downstream of the pre-acceleration stage, the sensor being responsive to the pulsed beam passing thereby.

1 . A linear accelerator system comprising
 a source arranged to produce a pulsed beam of charged particles,   a linear accelerator string arranged to accelerate the pulsed beam up to a predetermined range of energies, and   a pre-acceleration stage interposed between the source and the linear accelerator string and arranged to accelerate the pulsed beam up to an energy suitable for beam insertion into the linear accelerator string and perform bunching of the pulsed beam,   characterized in that an average current detector is arranged to measure an average current in the pulsed beam, said average current detector comprising at least one non-interceptive sensor placed at an input side of the linear accelerator string, downstream of the pre-acceleration stage, said sensor being responsive to the pulsed beam passing thereby.