Design considerations for a pulse line ion accelerator (PLIA)-based PET isotope generator

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Physics
• Particle Accelerators
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Positron emission tomography (PET) relies on short-lived isotopes, necessitating costly on-site production.
• Current PET isotope production methods face limitations due to cost and accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of using a pulse line ion accelerator (PLIA) for proton acceleration.
• To assess the potential of PLIA for cost-effective, on-demand PET isotope production.

Main Methods:

• Simulated a 1.5-m PLIA structure using CST Microwave Studio and Particle Studio.
• Employed time-domain electromagnetic field and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations.
• Incorporated scaled measurements from a kV ramp-pulse generator to accelerate a 1 A, 50 ns proton beam.

Main Results:

• Achieved an accelerating gradient of 2.4 MV/m within the PLIA structure.
• Observed proton beam acceleration and bunching, reaching a maximum kinetic energy of 2.5 MeV.
• Demonstrated effective beam focusing and containment using a 3 T solenoidal magnetic field.

Conclusions:

• Simulations confirm the feasibility of PLIA for accelerating protons with MV/m gradients.
• Serial combination of PLIA stages could enable low-cost accelerators for PET isotope production.
• This approach supports dose-on-demand PET isotope generation.