A singly charged ion source for radioactive ¹¹C ion acceleration

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Physics
• Medical Physics
• Accelerator Physics

Background:

• Isotope Separation On-Line (ISO) systems are crucial for producing radioactive isotopes for medical applications.
• Simultaneous positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and heavy-ion cancer therapy require efficient production of specific isotopes, such as carbon-11 (11C).
• Existing ion sources may not meet the demands for high efficiency and specific ion production for these combined applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test a new singly charged ion source for an ISO system.
• To enable simultaneous PET imaging and heavy-ion cancer therapy using 11C ion beams.
• To optimize ionization efficiency through careful design and parameter selection.

Main Methods:

• Development of a new singly charged ion source utilizing electron impact ionization.
• Design optimization based on ionization efficiency calculations.
• Fabrication and performance testing of the ion source using low-energy electron beams.

Main Results:

• The developed ion source successfully produces singly charged ions.
• Ionization efficiency calculations guided the design of optimal geometric parameters and electron emission current.
• Performance testing confirmed favorable characteristics of the fabricated singly charged ion source.

Conclusions:

• The new singly charged ion source is suitable for isotope separation on-line systems.
• This development supports simultaneous PET imaging and heavy-ion cancer therapy applications.
• The optimized design ensures efficient production of 11C ion beams for medical use.