A new generation of particle accelerators is set to take cancer therapy, drug detection and material analysis to a higher level: These linear accelerators are so compact that they are becoming affordable even for smaller hospitals, airports and laboratories.
To promote this development, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, together with international partners, is relying on laser-assisted 3D printers: as part of the "I.FAST" project, it has now been possible for the first time in the world to additively manufacture important quadrupole components for linear accelerators from pure copper powder.
In quadrupoles, four alternately polarized electrodes face each other and are arranged like petals around a central particle trajectory. When the user applies an alternating voltage, rapidly changing electric fields are generated. These send the particles between the wavy electrode tips on a kind of wave ride, which brings them closer and closer to the speed of light with every "electrode petal" passed and every quadrupole. Unlike their usually huge underground brothers, the ring accelerators, these linear accelerators often take up little more space than a living room.
Entire quadrupole segments are soon to be produced using 3D printing. It is also being investigated whether minor wear damage to accelerators can be subsequently repaired using additive manufacturing technologies.
