New Concepts in FFAG Design for Secondary Beam Facilities and Other Applications

Fixed Field Alternating Gradient accelerators offer much higher acceptances and repetition rates - and therefore higher beam intensities – than synchrotrons, at the cost of more complicated magnet and rf cavity designs. Perhaps because of the difficulty and expense anticipated, early studies never progressed beyond the stage of successful electron models, but in recent years, with improvements in magnet and rf design technology, FFAGs have become the focus of renewed attention. Two proton machines have now been built, and three more, plus a muon phase rotator, are under construction. In addition, more than 20 designs are under study for the acceleration of protons, heavy ions, electrons and muons, with applications as diverse as treating cancer, irradiating materials, driving subcritical reactors, boosting high-energy proton intensity, and producing neutrinos. Moreover, it has become apparent that FFAG designs need not be restricted to the traditional ´ scaling´ approach, in which the orbit shape, optics and tunes are kept fixed. Dropping this restriction has revealed a range of interesting new design possibilities. This paper will review the various approaches being taken.