Design and Optimisation of Microwave linac Cavity
for Medical Applications**
Roshani V. Bhaskarwar
Datta Meghe College of Engineering
Airoli, Navi-Mumbai 400708
rvb.2510@rediffmail.com
R.C Sethi
Terna college of Engineering
Nerul, Navi-Mumbai
ramchandsethi@gmail.com
Abstract— Among all the disease which a person faces, Cancer is
still considered the deadliest one. Over the years many new
nuclear medicine techniques have been discovered which can not
only detect the cancer even at the beginning stage but also treat
them effectively. These techniques involve Electrons, Protons,
Neutrons beams which are used to break DNA chain of cancerous
cells. Among them electrons based machines called as “Electron
Linac” are the most common ones & probably the cheapest ones.
The heart of the machine is “Microwave Linac Cavity”, which
imparts energy to the electron beam to produce high energy X
ray beams. These in turn are used for the treatment of the cancer
patients. This paper describes the design of the “Microwave
Cavity” from the point of view of reducing the power
consumption and hence effectively the cost of the Linac which in
turn reduces the burden on the patient. Three half cells of the
cavity were fabricated by using CNC machine and characterized
for its microwave frequency, by using a Vector Network
Analyser. The measured frequency was found to be…2.680 GHz
as compared to the designed frequency of…2.687 GHz. This is
well within the bandwidth of the microwave power source.
Keywords- PET, Linac, SUPERFISH, CNC, Cavity
I. INTRODUCTION
Among all the disease which a person faces, Cancer is still
considered the deadliest one. By the time it is discovered, it is
already too late. Over the years many new nuclear medicine
techniques have been discovered which now can detect the
cancer even at the beginning stage. Nuclear medicine is a
branch or specialty of medicine and medical imaging that uses
radio-nuclides and relies on the process of radioactive decay in
the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
Major Nuclear diagnostic techniques used today are,
- Gamma Imaging
- Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
- Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT)
- Cardiovascular imaging
**This work is sponsored by M/S. ELIM Prasanth Valley, Prasanth Nagar, Med. College
VI/ 184, P.O., Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala-695011
R.D Patane
Terna college of Engineering
Nerul, Navi- Mumbai
rrpatne@yahoo.com
- Bone scanning etc.
All of these techniques use different properties of radioactive
elements to create an image which helps in the diagnosis [1].
After proper diagnosis, comes the treatment of cancer.
Radiation Oncology is the branch of medicine that uses
various types of radiation to treat and control cancer. Quite a
few types of radiation therapies are in use. Among them
Electrons, X-rays, γ rays, Protons, Deuterons, Heavy ions,
neutrons etc. are being employed extensively. The
transmission of radiation for the treatment, depends on very
sophisticated technology, one of such device is called Linac
(Linear Accelerator). These create the X–rays treatment beam,
the beam consist of much higher energy than a standard X–ray
machine and must be meticulously maintained in order to
guarantee patients safety. An added advantage of linear
accelerator is that it gives electron beams of various energies.
These electron beams offer the advantage of rapid and sharp
fall of depth dose, variable depth penetration, less bone
absorption than x-ray beams and decreased radiation build up,
and the superficial tumors are best treated with the electron
beams [2].
Among other linacs like Proton, Deuteron, heavy ions,
“Electron Linacs” are the most common ones & probably the
cheapest ones. The heart of the machine is “Microwave Linac
Cavity (MLC)”, which imparts energy to the electron beam to
produce high energy X rays. These, in turn are used for the
treatment of the cancer patients, which break the DNA chains
of the malignant cells and prevents the further growth of the
tissues. Indigenous developments in designing and fabricating
these types of cavity have been made [3]. But still, there are a
lot of factors related to the design of the MLCs, their
machining & brazing, which have a lot of impact on the cavity
performance. These factors in turn bring down the power
consumption and hence the overall cost of the machine and the
burden on the patient.
Meditech Pvt. Ltd., Researchman, TC
 II. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION OF A LINAC
Along the axis of the cavity is placed a series of
cylindrical drift tubes with a small through hole to permit the
passage of the beam of electrons or charged particles, as
shown in Fig 2.1 These are called as “Cells of Linac Cavities”
& if they are operated at Microwave Frequencies, then they
are called as “Cells of Microwave Linac Cavities (MLCs)”.
MLCs are actually the heart of the Linac system. When an
electromagnetic oscillation is set up by an external Microwave
source at the cavity resonance frequency, an axial electric field
is created in the gaps between the adjacent drift tubes.
Charged particles enter from the left and are accelerated by the
first MLC, by an electric field of a proper polarity. Once
inside, they are shielded from the field and drift through, at a
constant velocity. When they arrive at the next acceleration
gap, they again see the field with the proper polarity and hence
get accelerated. This is achieved by utilizing various modes
for synchronizing the time travel of the particle to the
microwave period of oscillation. This continues, with the
particles picking up more and more energy in each gap, until
they shoot out of it with the desired energy.
Figure 2.1 A general Linac cavity
III. DESIGN OF THE MICROWAVE CAVITY
All the linac cavities can be operated either in Standing
Wave (SW) or the Traveling Wave (TW) mode for both
electron as well as ion beams. But at low energies such as 10
to 15 MeV, the SW structures give relatively higher shunt
impedance and hence consume low power as compared to the
TW mode. These modes can have constant impedance (CI) or
a constant gradient (CG) structure. The CIs exhibit the same
geometry and hence have same impedance throughout the
length of the Linac but whereas in CGs, the field gradient is
constant but not the geometry. Although, it is desirable to have
CG based cavities but continuous variation in the geometry
makes the fabrication difficult and a costlier task [4].
In the SW mode there are three configurations available,
which are П mode, 0 or 2 П mode and П/2 mode. Any of these
configurations can be used for accelerating the beam but that
is not an efficient way. Because the transit time factor Tr,
plays an important role and should be maintained as high as
possible. The Tr value of about 0.7 to 0.8 is considered as
optimum. Another parameter which plays an important role is
the group velocity Vg, of the structure. It is a measure of flow
of energy and decides the filling time of the cavity. This also
helps in attaining a uniform and steady field distribution
throughout the resonator. Therefore Vg should be nonzero and
finite. In case of П/2 mode Vg is inherently nonzero and finite,
therefore no external devices are required to generate it.
Another advantage of this mode is that it is less sensitive to
geometrical deviations or errors, which in turn reduces the cost
of fabrication. Considering all these factors, a constant
impedance, П/2 mode, CCL structure operating in SW mode is
chosen [5].
Fig 3.1 shows the outline of the right half of a “standard”
coupled-cavity linac cell. The cell is a figure of revolution
about the beam axis, which is at the bottom of the figure. The
left edge is a symmetry plane. Fig 3.2 show more details near
the nose. The lower left corner is the center of the cell. The
full gap is g and the full length is L. The bore radius is Rb. The
full cavity diameter is D and the full septum thickness is s.
The cone angle αc is the angle that the nose face makes with
the horizontal. There are three circular arcs on the drift-tube
profile. The cavity inner corner radius Rci, connects the outer
end of the straight cone-angle segment with the vertical
segment along the septum. The inner nose radius Ri, connects
the bore tube to an optional vertical flat segment of length F.
The outer nose radius Ro, connects the flat segment on the nose
with the cone-angle segment [6].
All these parameters especially the cone angle, the
diameter and the length play a very crucial role in designing &
optimizing the power consumed by the cavity.
FEq/2
Rco
L/2
D/2
s/2
Beam axis Rci
g/2
Rb
Figure 3.1 the CCL half cell set up by the code CCL fish.
 cavity are fed as input. These values for 2500 MHz (S- Band)
are given in TABLE I
αc
g/2 TABLE I. LIST OF INPUT PARAMETERS FOR FREQ OF 2500 MHZ

Input Parameters Specifications

Resonant Frequency 2500 MHz
Ro BETA 1
F Diameter 9.1 cm
Gap_Length 3.58 cm
E0T_Normalization 12 MV/m
Ri Outer_Corner radius 1.6 cm
Inner_Corner radius 0.39 cm
Rb
Outer_Nose radius 0.3 cm
Inner_Nose radius 0.1 cm
Cone_Angle 45 deg
Figure 3.2 Details near the nose of the cavity. Septum_Thickness 1 cm
Bore_radius 0.5 cm
Since the geometry of the cavity could be quite complex or the
time required for each solution may be so large that it might
become impractical to design it manually. To circumvent this IV. DESIGN OPTIMISATION STUDIES
problem computer codes are available internationally. Here, Optimisation of the design is carried out to reduce the
the SUPERFISH, a two dimensional computer code from Los power loss in the cavity. Hence all the parameters were varied
Alamos National Laboratory [7], USA, is used for designing and the effect of each parameter versus power was studied in
the cavity. In these codes solutions to the Maxwell’s equations detail. The optimization curves for some of the parameters
are obtained numerically for the given boundary value like Cone angle, Rin, Ron, are shown in the Fig. 4.1(a), 4.1(b),
problems. The final design is evolved through successive 4.1(c) respectively.
iterations and approximations. 2.6 GHz.xls
vary cone ang
The crucial task was to choose the resonant frequency for 47.4

the cavity. As the aim is to reduce the power consumption, a 47.35

47.3
study is carried out by tuning the cavity at various frequency 47.25

and give a check for the power dissipation. From the graph 47.2

obtained in Fig 3.3, it was decided to choose the frequency in 47.15 DPlot
Power(KW)

Trial
the S-Band. 47.1

47.05 Version
The frequency chosen in S-Band is 2500 MHz, close to the 47 http://www.dplot.com
minimum but much before the point of discontinuity observed 46.95

in Fig 3.3 46.9

46.85

46.8
adj dia.xls
Sheet1 46.75
24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46
160 Cone ang (deg)

150

140
Figure 4.1(a) Cone_Angle Vs Power
130

120 2.6 GHz.xls

vary Rin
110
DPlot 45.5

100
Trial 45.45
POWER

90

80
Version 45.4

45.35

70
http://www.dplot.com 45.3
DPlot
60 45.25
Power(KW)

Trial
50 45.2
Version
40 45.15
http://www.dplot.com
30 45.1

45.05
20
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800 3000 3200 3400 3600 3800 4000 4200 4350
45
FREQ
44.95

44.9
0.03 0.035 0.04 0.045 0.05 0.055 0.06 0.065 0.07 0.075 0.08 0.085 0.09 0.095 0.1
Rin (cm)
Figure 3.3 graph of frequency Vs power
Figure 4.1(b) Inner _Nose Radius Vs Power
To design the acceleration cavity, the rough values of
parameters needed for evaluating the characteristics of the
 2.6 GHz.xls
vary Roc The optimized peak power per cell for S-Band is 46.97 kW for
47.1
a frequency of 2687.78797 MHz.
47

46.9
V. DESIGN OF ON AXIS COUPLING CAVITY
46.8

46.7
(OACCL)
DPlot
46.6
The configuration of the coupling cavity or cell for our linac is
Power(KW)

Trial
46.5
Version shown in the Fig 5.1. This cell has a length of 4 mm, thickness
of 4 mm and a diameter of 89 mm. The coupling cells will also
46.4
http://www.dplot.com
46.3

46.2
operate at the same frequency as that of the acceleration cell
46.1 i.e 2687.78797 MHz.
46

45.9
1.53 1.56 1.59 1.62 1.65 1.68 1.71 1.74 1.77 1.8 1.83
Roc (cm)

Figure 4.1 (c) Outer _ Corner Radius Vs Power

After studying the behavior of all the parameters versus

power the optimized final list of parameters was arrived and is
given in TABLE II for an input frequency of 2500 MHz.

TABLE II. FINAL OPTIMIZED PARAMETERS Figure 5.1 Geometry of the On-Axis Coupled Cavity
Optimized Parameters Specifications Since in a linac cavity all the cells are magnetically
Resonant Frequency 2650.28568 MHz
coupled, the individual properties of the cells are no longer
Length 5.655 cm
important. Rather the problem now reduces to the solution of a
BETA 1
Diameter 8.9 cm many cells coupled resonator system. In this system, the
Gap_Length 3.45 cm acceleration and the coupling cells are directly coupled
E0T_Normalization 12 MV/m whereas the two acceleration or the two coupling cells are
Outer_Corner radius 1.82 cm indirectly coupled. The coupling between the accelerating and
Inner_Corner radius 0.34 cm the coupling cell is known as “first neighbor coupling” and is
Outer_Nose radius 0.19 cm denoted by the coupling coefficient k1. The coupling between
Inner_Nose radius 0.03 cm the two acceleration cells or two coupling cells is known as
Cone_Angle 25 deg “Second neighbor coupling” and is denoted by k2 and k3
Septum_Thickness 1.2 cm respectively.
Bore_radius 0.5 cm For the microwave power to flow, the cells have to be
Particle rest mass energy 0.510999 MeV coupled together properly. This is achieved by making slots in
Normalization factor for E0 14.795 MV/m = them. How much coupling is produced depend upon the
107483.684 geometrical dimensions and the position of the slot.
Transit-time factor 0.8110990 Calculations to determine the optimum coupling slot location
Stored energy 0.0525438 Joules
have shown that the coupling slot should be on the flat portion
Surface resistance 13.52566 milliOhm
of the web and as far, as possible from the axis. This location
Power dissipation 46.9745 kW
Q 18890.1
leads to the largest coupling constant and largest ZT2 [8].
Shunt impedance 131.771 MOhm/m There are two slots on each cavity, placed 180 deg apart
Rs*Q 255.501 Ohm azimuthally. The geometrical dimensions of the slot for
Z*T*T 86.690 MOhm/m coupling coefficient k1 as 5 % are as follows.
r/Q 129.778 Ohm
Wake loss parameter 0.54792 V/pC - Axial position of the slot (rs) = 2.72 cm
Average magnetic field on 25946.6 A/m, 455.292 - Depth of the slot or wall thickness ( tc ) = 4 mm
the outer wall W/cm^2 - The slot radial width ( Δ ) = 6 mm
Maximum H (at Z,R = 27684.1 A/m, 518.31 - Annular length of the slot (ls) = 35 deg
2.22472, 2.73796) W/cm^2
Maximum E (at Z,R = 72.4652 MV/m, The presence of k1 introduces k2 and k3 but their values
1.72809, 0.51674) are small and are generally found to be about one tenth and
Kilpatrick Factor 1.62844 Kilp. twentieth of k1 respectively. Therefore for a k1 value of 5 %, k2
Ratio of peak fields 0.4801 mT/(MV/m)
and k3 values will be around 0.5 % and 0.25 % respectively.
Bmax/Emax
Fig 5.2 shows the front view of the cavity with the slot
positions.

Figure 5.2 Front view of the cavity
VI. FABRICATION & CHARACTERISATION OF MLC
After designing the MLC, the next task was to get it
fabricated. As the dimensions are very critical and each one
plays an important role in accelerating the beam. It is
necessary to maintain the accuracy of fabrication within a few
microns, typically less than 10 microns.. This kind of
fabrication with a few microns accuracy is possible with CNC
machines. So the fabrication was carried out using CNC
lathes. Since, the frequency of oscillation or resonance of a
cavity depends mainly on its diameter and the overall
geometrical configurations and not on the type of material, so
Mild Steel was used for fabricating the cavities. Copper or
OFHC copper is needed when we are talking of power losses,
Q factor, Shunt impedance etc.
The fabrication has come out quite good. The pictures of
the Acceleration and coupling cavities of the fabricated cells
are shown in Fig 6.1.
Acceleration the entire cavity (i.e 9 cells) fabricated by using Oxygen Free
Cavity
Coupling
Cavity
Fig 6.1 Coupling and Acceleration cavity
Cold test measurements were performed using Vector
Network Analyzer ZVB-8, 300 KHz - 8 GHz [9]. For
optimum transmission of the microwave frequency from VNA
into the cavity and reception from it, required compatible
connectors with antennas of 2.8 cm (i.e λ/4 size) mounted on
it. For this purpose BNC connectors were used. For
compatibility N to BNC adapters were employed.
The VNA was set to measure S21 and the output obtained
is given in the Fig.6.2. The resonant frequency of the cavity is
found out to be 2.680 GHz as compared to the theoretical
design value as 2.687 GHz, which is quite close to the design
value.
Fig 6.2 Output obtained on Vector Network Analyzer
CONCLUSION & FUTURE PLANS
An S-Band (2687.78797 MHz) linac cavity is designed.
The total length of the cavity is 50.895 cm with 9 cells. This
will consume a peak power of 46.97 KW per cell. A few cells
of this designed cavity were fabricated using CNC lathes by
using Mild Steel material. The prototype has come out quite
good. Cold test measurements for frequency were performed
by using Vector Network Analyzer. The resonant frequency is
found out to be 2680 MHz, very close to the design value of
2687 MHz.
This project has been sponsored. The sponsorer will get
High Conductivity Copper. Get it checked for errors and get it
assembled. Go for vacuum furnace brazing & finally get all
the properties viz, frequency of resonance, Q values, Shunt
impedance etc. measured. Once all the properties are found to
be OK, the company will be able to use it for applications.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge LANL, USA, for the
Superfish group of codes.
REFERENCES
[1] Ter-Pogossian, M.M.; M.E. Phelps, E.J. Hoffman, N.A. Mullani
(1975). "A positron -emission transaxial tomograph for nuclear
imaging (PET)". Radiology 114……
[2] ADVANCES IN MEDICAL LINEAR ACCELERATOR
TECHNOLOGY
www.ampi-nc.org/essayresult/LINAC-3.pdf

[3] SAMEER, Mumbai, Pvt. Communication ,BARC, Mumbai, Pvt.

Communication

[4] “Linear Accelerators “, ed. By P. Lapostolle and A.L Septier , Wiley ,

New York , (1970)

[5] R.C.Sethi et. al., Design of RF structure for a 10 MeV, 10 Kw RF

Electron Linac, RFAS / APPD / BARC / 03 / 2001

[6] Poisson Superfish LA-UR-96-1834 documentation

[7] Poisson Superfish Group of Codes

[8] S. O. Schriber* , “ Room Temp.cavities for WG3-Beta Accelerating

Structures, Accelerator Technology Divn., Los Alamos Scientific
Laboratory Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545,USA.

[9] www2.rohde-schwarz.com