The Houghton College Cyclotron: Results, Modifications

Abstract

The Houghton College Cyclotron consists of a 17 cm inner diameter, 2.8 cm thick evacuated aluminum chamber containing a “dee” shaped electrode and a grounded “dummy dee” placed between the poles of a 1.1 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 a constant magnetic and an alternating RF electric field. It is expected that the accelerated ions will reach energies of 280 keV, 140 keV, and 70 keV for protons, deuterons, and helium respectively, and may be used in small-scale nuclear experiments. The cyclotron successfully accelerated protons on one occasion, but after an hour of operation a discharge occurred which destroyed the filament and the surrounding insulation, and a leak in the vacuum chamber developed. To solve this problem, a new larger chamber was designed and is under construction.