Design of electron gun and S-Band structure for medical electron linear accelerator

Abstract

Copyright © 2016 CC-BY-3.0 and by the respective authors. Linear accelerator technology has been widely utilized for cancer treatment in hospital. This radiotherapy utilizes an accelerated electron beam to create the x-ray beam. The idea to fabricate the prototype of medical electron linac with low cost for domestic use in Thailand was proposed and the budget has been granted. In the first phase, the electron beam energy of the machine will be 6 MeV or equivalent to x-ray energy of 6 MV. The electron gun is a diode type for the simple and low cost fabrication. The design and simulation study of diode gun will be presented together with an analysis of an electron beam in this gun. The S-Band 6 MeV side-coupled RF cavity has been designed to be the accelerating structure of the machine. The electromagnetic fields of the structure have been studied. The electron behaviour when they traverse this cavity will be studied using a particle tracking code. Progression of the project is also presented.