tsüklotroni

A tsüklotroni, or cyclotron, is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest Lawrence in 1929. It uses a magnetic field to bend charged particles into a spiral path, while an oscillating electric field accelerates them with each pass. The particles gain energy and speed as they spiral outwards. This process continues until the particles reach a desired energy level, at which point they are extracted from the cyclotron.

The basic components of a cyclotron include a vacuum chamber, two D-shaped electrodes called "dees" where the electric field is applied, and a large electromagnet that creates a uniform magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the dees. The charged particles are injected into the center of the vacuum chamber. The oscillating electric field between the dees accelerates the particles, and the magnetic field forces them to move in a circular path. As the particles gain energy, their orbital radius increases, causing them to spiral outwards.

Cyclotrons are used in various applications, including medical treatments like proton therapy for cancer, the production of radioisotopes for medical imaging and research, and in fundamental physics research to study subatomic particles. The energy achievable in a cyclotron is limited by relativistic effects, where the mass of the particle increases with speed, causing it to fall out of sync with the oscillating electric field. For higher energies, other types of accelerators like synchrotrons are used.

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