Stripping accumulation and optimization of HIMM synchrotron

The design of an injection system for a dedicated carbon-ion therapy synchrotron is presented. Improvements to the particle tracking code ACCSIM are developed to support interactions between heavy ions and stripping foil. The three main improvements are concerned with (a) charge exchange between carbon ions and stripping foil; (b) multiple Coulomb scattering of incident heavy ions on stripping foil; and (c) energy loss in particles passing through the foil, and energy-loss straggling. The accumulation process is then simulated, and the parameters related to the injection system are optimized. A gain of about 140 in the number of particles is achieved, and the emittance and momentum spread growth is obtained, together with a central momentum shift. Finally, the superacceptance of the synchrotron, ε−Δp/p, is tracked. According to the simulation, 1.35×109 actual particles are stored successfully in the synchrotron.