Experimental studies of systematic multiple-energy operation at HIMAC synchrotron

Multiple-energy synchrotron operation providing carbon-ion beams with various energies has been used for scanned particle therapy at NIRS. An energy range from 430 to 56 MeV/u and about 200 steps within this range are required to vary the Bragg peak position for effective treatment. The treatment also demands the slow extraction of beam with highly reliable properties, such as spill, position and size, for all energies. We propose an approach to generating multiple-energy operation meeting these requirements within a short time. In this approach, the device settings at most energy steps are determined without manual adjustments by using systematic parameter tuning depending on the beam energy. Experimental verification was carried out at the HIMAC synchrotron, and its results proved that this approach can greatly reduce the adjustment period.