Introduction

The invention consists of a method for accelerating subatomic particles (protons and light ions) based on compact photonic crystals capable of guiding optical radiation. These structures are made of dielectric materials that are perturbed to give rise to an axial field component capable of accelerating and ‘bunching’ charged particles.

Technical features

The invention concerns a dielectric structure for the confinement of a TE210 (TE210 -like) electromagnetic field that is perturbed to give rise to an axial field component capable of accelerating and ‘bunching” charged particles. The conceived dielectric structure makes possible to use dielectric accelerators operating at optical wavelengths for particle acceleration at sub-relativistic speeds, allowing for bunching and the first part of low-energy acceleration between the integrated proton/hadron source and the subsequent high-energy accelerating sections. Such a structure allows for greater miniaturisation and compactness without compromising the efficiency of the device. In fact, among the advantages of this technology, the micro-bunching process takes place at a higher efficiency and the longitudinal field gradients are much larger than with conventional devices.

Possible Applications

• Medical;
• Security;
• Industrial;
• Energy (Thermonuclear Fusion).

Advantages

• Much higher longitudinal field gradients possible compared to metallic RFQs;
• Compactness/miniaturisation by 4 orders of magnitude;
• economies of scale in production;
• higher efficiencies in the micro-bunching process, and greater compatibility with subsequent p-DLA sections.