PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

THE CYCLOTRON

INTRODUCTION:
A cyclotron is a machine that accelerates charged particles or ions to
high energies. It was invented to investigate the nuclear structure by E.O
Lawrence and M.S Livingston in 1934. Both electric and magnetic fields are used
in the cyclotron to increase the energy of the charged particles. As both the fields
are perpendicular to each other, they are called cross fields.

In a cyclotron, charged particles accelerate outwards from the centre

along a spiral path. These particles are held to a spiral trajectory by a static
magnetic field and accelerated by a rapidly varying electric field.
PRIPNCIPLE:
Cyclotron works on the principle that a charged particle moving
normal to a magnetic field experiences magnetic Lorentz force due to which the
particle moves in a circular path.

WORKING:
• A cyclotron accelerates a charged particle beam using a high frequency
alternating voltage which is applied between two hollow “D”-shaped sheet
metal electrodes known as the “dees” inside a vacuum chamber.
• The dees are placed face to face with a narrow gap between them, creating
a cylindrical space within them for particles to move. Particles are injected
into the centre of this space.
• Dees are located between the poles of electromagnet which applies a static
magnetic field B perpendicular to the electrode plane.
• The magnetic field causes the path of the particle to bend in a circle due to
the Lorentz force perpendicular to their direction of motion.
• An alternating voltage of several thousand volts is applied between the
dees. The voltage creates an oscillating electric field in the gap between the
dees that accelerates the particles.
• The frequency of the voltage is set so that particles make one circuit during
a single cycle of the voltage. To achieve this condition, the frequency must
be set to the particle’s cyclotron frequency.

CYCLOTRON FREQUENCY:
The cyclotron frequency is the frequency in Hz at which a charged particle
such as an electron with mass m and charge q gyrates around a magnetic field
with field strength B in Gauss (G).

r = mv/qB ; v = qBr/ m
v = 2πr/T = qBr/m
 T = 2πm/qB
f= 1/T
f = qB / 2πm

THE MEN BEHIND THE MACHINE:

E.O Lawrence and M.S Livingston
Ernest Orlando Lawrence (August 8, 1901 – August 27, 1958) was an
American nuclear physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for
his invention of the cyclotron. He is known for his work on uranium-isotope
separation for the Manhattan Project, as well as for founding the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Milton Stanley Livingston (May 25, 1905 – August 25, 1986) was an
American accelerator physicist, co-inventor of the cyclotron with Ernest
Lawrence, and co-discoverer with Ernest Courant and Hartland Snyder of
the strong focusing principle, which allowed development of modern large-
scale particle accelerators. He built cyclotrons at the University of
California, Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During World War II, he served in the operations research group at the Office
of Naval Research.
Livingston was the chairman of the Accelerator Project
at Brookhaven National Laboratory, director of the Cambridge Electron
Accelerator, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a professor of
physics at MIT, and a recipient of the Enrico Fermi Award from the United
States Department of Energy. He was associate director of the National
Accelerator Laboratory from 1967 to 1970.

USES OF CYCLOTRON:
• The high energy particles produced in a cyclotron are used to bombard
nuclei and study the resulting nuclear reactions and hence investigate
nuclear structure.
 • The high energy particles are used to produce other high energy particles,
such as neutrons, by collisions. These fast neutrons are used in atomic
reactors.

• It is used to implant ions into solids and modify their properties or even
synthesis new materials.

LIMITATIONS OF CYCLOTRON:

• Cyclotron cannot accelerate uncharged particles like neutrons.

• Cyclotron cannot accelerate electrons because of its small mass.

• It cannot accelerate positively charged particles with large mass due to

relativistic effect.

CONCLUSION:

A cyclotron is a machine that accelerates charged particles or ions to high

energies. It was invented to investigate the nuclear structure by E.O Lawrence and
M.S Livingston in 1934. Cyclotron works on the principle that a charged particle
moving normal to a magnetic field experiences magnetic Lorentz force due to
which the particle moves in a circular path. The cyclotron frequency is the
frequency in Hz at which a charged particle such as an electron with mass m and
charge q gyrates around a magnetic field with field strength B in Gauss (G).

It is given by:

f = qB / 2πm

The high energy particles are used to produce other high energy particles, such as
neutrons, by collisions. These fast neutrons are used in atomic reactors.
Cyclotron cannot accelerate electrons because of its small mass. It cannot
accelerate positively charged particles with large mass due to relativistic effect.
BIBLOGRAPHY:
• www.scribd.com
• www.slideshare.net
• www.brainkart.com
• www.wikipedia.com