Realization of a phase bunching effect for minimization of beam phase width in a central region of an AVF cyclotron

A phase bunching effect has been achieved for the first time using a rising slope of the dee voltage waveform produced at the first acceleration gap between the RF shielding cover of the inflector and the puller in the new central region of the JAEA AVF cyclotron. The feasibility of the phase bunching effect in the central region for a two-dee system with a span angle of 86° in three acceleration harmonic modes was assessed by a simple geometrical analysis of particle trajectories and a three-dimensional beam orbit simulation using the calculated electric field and a measured magnetic field. The simulation indicated that the initial beam phase width of 40 RF degrees is compressed to 11 RF degrees (about 28% of the initial phase width) in the second harmonic mode. A phase width of 1.5 RF degrees FWHM for a 260 MeV 20Ne7+ beam accelerated in the second harmonic mode was observed when using a 4 mm phase slit gap. The phase width reduction was considerably enhanced by the bunching effect, compared with the beam phase width of 7.3 RF degrees FWHM in the same harmonic mode for a 10 MeV H+ beam accelerated in the original central region. The ratio of the beam current for the 1.5 RF degrees FWHM phase width with 4 mm phase slit gap restriction to the full beam current without the phase slit was drastically improved to 80%, while the beam current was less than 1% of the full beam when narrowing the phase slit gap to obtain the 7.3 RF degrees FWHM phase width in the original central region.