Speaker
Description
A compact, cesium-free negative hydrogen ion source based on D-Pace hardware has been deployed in a boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) accelerator at TAE Life Sciences. The cesium-free design fits a medical-accelerator environment well. It avoids the contamination and maintenance burden of cesiated surface-conversion sources, while still meeting the required current and duty cycle. The source runs in both DC and pulsed modes and delivers stable H$^{-}$ beams up to 15~mA. A fully automated control and interlock framework enables hands-free operation throughout clinical routines. Operational parameters and diagnostics are logged continuously, which supports real-time monitoring, trend analysis, and long-term reliability assessment.
In this contribution we first summarize the recent operational performance of the source on the BNCT machine, with a focus on stability, reproducibility, and availability during routine clinical use. We then present an in-house experimental campaign that characterizes the source under controlled conditions, together with complementary simulation efforts. The simulations include beam-optics modeling of the existing extraction geometry, particle-in-cell modeling of downstream beam propagation, and an in-house treatment of beam--gas interaction losses. Together, these tools provide physical insight into the observed behavior and guide optimization of the source and its low-energy transport line.
The operational record and the in-house study together form a consistent picture of the performance and limitations of a cesium-free H$^{-}$ source in a given medical-accelerator setting.
| Email address | vvekselman@tae.com |
|---|---|
| Visitor's Visa | no |
| Classification | Applications of Negative sources - medical (diagnostics, therapy), industrial (implantation, materials analysis, carbon dating, discovery science |