Advances of the feasibility study of the European Light Ion Medical Accelerator

An account of the biomedical background of the initiative for the European light ion cancer therapy facility is given. Recent advances of the feasibility study of the superconducting separated sector cyclotron concept are presented, and alternative concepts of the facility design are discussed. It has been shown that the superconducting separated sector cyclotron, while fulfilling the basic requirements for the reference oxygen beam energy of 400 MeV/n and extracted beam intensity of 10¹² p.p.s., can lead to a compact, cost-effective, and technically feasible design. It is pointed out, however, that other technical solutions (e.g. synchrotrons and compact superconducting cyclotrons) need to be considered and their relative merits evaluated