Research on Imaging and Accelerators applied to Medicine

BUILDING's AREAS

High Gradient Radiofrequency Laboratory

IFIC's High Gradient Radiofrequency Laboratory is a facility for the study and characterization of radiofrequency cavities, whose performance, mainly the oscillation frequency of 3 GHz and the repetition rate of signals up to 400 Hz, make it a unique facility in Spain.

The facility is designed to operate with cavities in the S-band, the band in which most of the radiofrequency cavities in accelerators for medical and industrial applications, as well as some standards of wireless communication systems and satellites. These cavities, due to their design and manufacture, allow the generation of very intense electromagnetic fields (high gradient), achieving a capacity to accelerate particles of more than 100 MV/m. The operability in these conditions will allow to obtain more compact and lower cost linear accelerators, essential for the development of accelerators in hadrontherapy facilities, particle accelerators such as CLIC or the International Linear Collider (ILC), X-ray accelerators such as XFEL, as well as the development of new technologies in telecommunications.

IFIC's High Gradient Radiofrequency Laboratory has:

• - 2 RF amplifier units each consisting of 1 klystron fed by 1 modulator; Freq: 3 GHz, P max: 15 MW, Max. Pulse Rep: 400 Hz.
• - Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) system consisting of a turbomolecular pumping unit, 6 ionic pumps + NEG, and 6 vacuum probes capable of reaching UHV conditions (10-9 mbar).
• - Vacuum leak detection system by Helium detector.
• - High speed data acquisition and control system.