Fundamental study of proton source based on inertial electrostatic confinement fusion for medical positron emission tomography

Summary form only given. The inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion has been mainly studied for application to a neutron source. However, it also has a potential applicable to a proton source. The IEC fusion system as a proton source has some advantages of low cost, portableness and easy handling compared with an accelerator such as a cyclotron. In this study, an IEC device was designed and tested for a proton source in order to produce a short-life radioisotope used for a medical positron emission tomography (PET). The device is made of 393-mm diameter, 342-mm high stainless steel cylindrical chamber, in which an open cylindrical grid anode of 200-mm diameter and an open cylindrical grid cathode of 40-mm diameter are set on the axis. In addition, a bucket-type ion source, which consists of sixteen ferrite magnets and sixteen filaments, is integrated with the chamber. A high voltage power supply of 100 kV, 100 mA for dc operation and 10 A for pulsed operation was also designed and used for the IEC device. By using this system, basic discharge characteristics, such as breakdown voltage versus pressure, operating voltage versus discharge current, etc. with changing gas pressure, were measured for hydrogen discharge. Then proton production rate was measured for deuterium discharge with changing operating voltage and discharge current.