TNAG-1508-FCO40-2066-Guangdong-nuclear-power-station-project-at-Daya-Bay-safety-c-1987 — Page 81

The charged particle

ACCELERATORS AND THEIR USES

accelerator is an electromagnetic

device which artificially accelerates charged particles inside an

electric field to a state of high energy. It is generally

referred to as an 'accelerator',

Particle accelerators were initially developed for basic

research into nuclear physics and elementary particle physics. As

the application of nuclear technology develops, the accelerator

has been used more and more widely in basic research as well as

in industry, agriculture and medicine. New fields of application

are still being explored.

There are many different types of accelerator.

For example,

electron

and

ion

depending

the type of particle there are on

accelerators; depending on differences in energy there are low-

energy, medium-energy and high-energy accelerators; depending on

the particle orbits there are linear and circular accelerators.

Although the characteristics of the various accelerators

differ, they generally consist of the three following parts.

1.

The charged particle producing mechanism the electron

gun or the ion source.

particle accelerator mechanism This is the main

2.

The

of the whole accelerator.

Its purpose is mainly to

ensure

part

that the charged particles are successfully accelerated to the

required rated energy. The mechanism includes the electric field

the particles,

guiding

magnetic field system which steers the movement of the charged

particles along their envisaged orbits, the focusing system

system

for

the accelerated charged

for

1