The present disclosure provides a self-contained system that contains a plurality of target cartridges, automatically inserts a selected target cartridge into position for irradiation, advances a foil to facilitate irradiation over the target chamber, replaces the foil for additional irradiation (if desired), serves as a dissolution cell for retrieval of the irradiated material, removes the used target cartridge and inserts a new cartridge for subsequent cycles of operation. Consequently, only the dissolved target material and dissolution medium are transferred between the target system and any post processing cells/labs. Accordingly, a system is disclosed for processing a target material without disturbance to irradiated material (thereby eliminating risk of impurities) and without requiring manual access/intervention (thereby eliminating risk of exposure).

The present disclosure provides a self-contained system that contains a plurality of target cartridges, automatically inserts a selected target cartridge into position for irradiation, advances a foil to facilitate irradiation over the target chamber, replaces the foil for additional irradiation (if desired), serves as a dissolution cell for retrieval of the irradiated material, removes the used target cartridge and inserts a new cartridge for subsequent cycles of operation. Consequently, only the dissolved target material and dissolution medium are transferred between the target system and any post processing cells/labs. Accordingly, a system is disclosed for processing a target material without disturbance to irradiated material (thereby eliminating risk of impurities) and without requiring manual access/intervention (thereby eliminating risk of exposure).

An example method includes: receiving, from a treatment planning process, information that is based on a dose distribution for an irradiation target; and performing at least one of the following operations: moving structures to trim spots of a particle beam so that the spots of the particle beam approximate pre-trimmed spots for which characteristics are obtained based on the information received; moving structures to produce a trimming curve for a layer of an irradiation target based on a specification of a trimming curve for the layer included in the information received; moving structures to produce a single trimming curve for all radiation fields of an irradiation target based on specifications of the single trimming curve included in the information received; or moving structures based on configuration information for the structures in the information received.

The invention relates to a drum assembly for a linear accelerator, the drum assembly comprising a drum having a front face including a front rim and a rear face including a rear rim, one or more support wheels supporting the drum, an arm extending from the front face of the drum and including a beam collimator through which a beam of radiation is emitted to form a radiation isocentre. One or more rear rim members are associated with the rear rim, the rear rim members adapted to substantially offset isocentre distortion due to unintended movement of the drum assembly. The invention also relates to variants thereto and combinations thereof.

A hadron therapy system that provides 3D scanning and rapid delivery of a high dose. Such systems can include a hadron source and accelerator with an RF energy modulator and an RF deflector that operate in combination to provide 3D scanning of a targeted tissue. The systems can include a permanent magnet quadrupole for magnification of the beam. The systems can include high energy hadron sources that utilize a multi-cell, multi-klystron design that achieves scanning of high energy hadron beams, for example a fixed energy of 200 MeV protons. Such systems can provide full irradiation of a liter scale tumor within one second or less.

An example method includes: receiving, from a treatment planning process, information that is based on a dose distribution for an irradiation target; and performing at least one of the following operations: moving structures to trim spots of a particle beam so that the spots of the particle beam approximate pre-trimmed spots for which characteristics are obtained based on the information received; moving structures to produce a trimming curve for a layer of an irradiation target based on a specification of a trimming curve for the layer included in the information received; moving structures to produce a single trimming curve for all radiation fields of an irradiation target based on specifications of the single trimming curve included in the information received; or moving structures based on configuration information for the structures in the information received.

An example particle therapy system may include: a synchrocyclotron to produce a particle beam; a scanner to move the particle beam in one or more dimensions relative to an irradiation target; and an energy degrader that is between the scanner and the irradiation target. The energy degrader may include multiple plates that are movable relative to a path of the particle beam, with the multiple plates each being controllable to move while in the path of the particle beam and during movement of the particle beam. An aperture may be between the energy degrader and the irradiation target. The aperture being may be to trim the particle beam prior to the particle beam reaching the irradiation target.

A system of electron irradiation includes an electron accelerator and an electron beam focusing device. The electron accelerator emits and accelerates a beam of electrons. The electron beam focusing device is located at a rear end of the electron irradiation and includes a beam restraining rail and 2n+1 sets of magnetic poles. The beam restraining rail forms a beam restraining channel through which the beam of electrons are to pass. The 2n+1 sets of magnetic poles are installed on the beam restraining rail and distributed at different locations of the beam restraining channel. An nth set of magnetic poles thereof are arranged for performing, on the beam of electrons, focusing in a first direction. An (n+1)th set of magnetic poles thereof are arranged for performing, on the beam of electrons, focusing in a second direction. The second direction is perpendicular to the first direction. The n is a positive integer.

A continuous wave ion linear accelerator PET radioisotope system is disclosed. The system includes a high brightness H.sup. ion source, a continuous wave RF quadrupole structure, and continuous wave RF interdigital structures to accelerate the ion beam to about 14 MeV. A high energy beam transport system is also described that includes a photo-detachment beam splitter and a magnet lattice for forming the proton beam into a beam having a Waterbag beam profile. The system also includes one or more targets upon which the proton beam is incident. The targets are either a high power metallic target oriented at about 10 degrees or a low thermal conductivity target oriented at about 35 degrees. The invention includes a method of producing PET isotopes by use of the systems described.

An example particle therapy system may include: a synchrocyclotron to produce a particle beam; a scanner to move the particle beam in one or more dimensions relative to an irradiation target; and an energy degrader that is between the scanner and the irradiation target. The energy degrader may include multiple plates that are movable relative to a path of the particle beam, with the multiple plates each being controllable to move while in the path of the particle beam and during movement of the particle beam. An aperture may be between the energy degrader and the irradiation target. The aperture being may be to trim the particle beam prior to the particle beam reaching the irradiation target.