Cyclotrons: Past, present and future

Abstract

New design and developments in the field of cyclotrons have shown that cyclotrons can well be tailored to suit a large variety of applications in different fields. Today cyclotrons are providing variety of light and heavy ion beams with energy ranging from few MeV to several hundreds of MeV for scientific experiments as well as for medical and industrial applications. The development of a 250 - 400 MeV/A cyclotron with proton and carbon beams has brought this advanced technique into hospitals for cancer therapy. Several proposals to generate about 10 MW of beam power using cyclotrons for energy generation or transmutation of nuclear waste are under active considerations. A brief summary of the cyclotron principle and an overview of different types of cyclotrons have been presented.