PSI Center for Accelerator Science and Engineering

The PSI Center for Accelerator Science and Engineering is responsible for the construction, operation and development of the particle accelerators at PSI. 

Figure 1: Degrader from the top when retracted. The wedges, which are moved against each other with copper jaws, are clearly visible.

A more efficient degrader for proton therapy

At PSI’s Center for Proton Therapy (CPT), protons are used to treat cancerous tumours in a highly targeted way that spares healthy tissue as much as possible. This is the result of the characteristic way in which charged particles interact with matter, so that a beam of protons deposits most of its energy at a certain depth in a material depending on the energy and the composition of the material. The dedicated medical cyclotron COMET accelerates protons to an energy of 250 MeV, which then have to be "slowed down" so that the energy matches the depth of the tumour to be treated.

  • Alcayne V, Mendoza E, Cano-Ott D, Kimura A, Aberle O, Amaducci S, et al.
    Results of the 244Cm, 246Cm and 248Cm neutron-induced capture cross sections measurements at EAR1 and EAR2 of the n_TOF facility
    In: Mattoon CM, Vogt R, Escher J, Thompson I, eds. 15th international conference on nuclear data for science and technology (ND2022). Vol. 284. EPJ web conferences. Les Ulis Cedex A: EDP Sciences; 2023:01009 (6 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202328401009
    DORA PSI
  • Auchmann B, Araujo DM, Brem A, Daly M, Felder R, Feuvrier J, et al.
    Test results from CD1 Short CCT Nb3Sn dipole demonstrator and considerations about CCT technology for the FCC-hh main dipole
    IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. 2023; 34(5): 4000906 (6 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2023.3344425
    DORA PSI
  • Baumgarten C
    Cyclotron beam extraction by acceleration
    Journal of Instrumentation. 2023; 18(3): P03029 (14 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/18/03/P03029
    DORA PSI