Characterizing the Houghton College Cyclotron

Abstract

The Houghton College Cyclotron consists of a 17 cm inner diameter evacuated aluminum chamber containing a “dee” shaped electrode and a grounded “dummy dee” placed between the poles of a 1.2 T electromagnet. Low pressure gas is introduced into the chamber where a filament, through electron collisions, ionizes the gas. The ions are accelerated in a spiral path by an alternating RF electric field in the constant magnetic field. It is expected that the accelerated ions will reach maximum energies of 400 keV, 200 keV, and 100 keV for protons, deuterons, and helium respectively. The cyclotron has successfully accelerated protons and helium ions. Currently, the performance of the cyclotron is being optimized for future small-scale nuclear experiments.