A microbeam irradiator without an accelerator

Using a “home made” 6.5 mCi Polonium source, a 1 alpha particle/s, 10 μm diameter microbeam can be realized. As the alpha source energy is constant, once the microbeam has been set up, no further adjustments are necessary apart from a periodic replacement of the source. The use of permanent magnets eliminates the need for bulky power supplies and cooling systems required by other types of ion lenses and greatly simplifies operation. It also makes the microbeam simple and cheap enough to be realized in any large lab.