To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT
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| Published in: | Вопросы атомной науки и техники |
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| Date: | 2001 |
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Національний науковий центр «Харківський фізико-технічний інститут» НАН України
2001
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| Cite this: | To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT / A.N. Dovbnya, A.M. Yegorov, Yu.N. Ranyuk, N.A. Khizhnyak // Вопросы атомной науки и техники. — 2001. — № 3. — С. 3-5. — Бібліогр.: 3 назв. — англ. |
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Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine| _version_ | 1859612581494259712 |
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| author | Dovbnya, A.N. Yegorov, A.M. Ranyuk, Yu.N. Khizhnyak, N.A. |
| author_facet | Dovbnya, A.N. Yegorov, A.M. Ranyuk, Yu.N. Khizhnyak, N.A. |
| citation_txt | To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT / A.N. Dovbnya, A.M. Yegorov, Yu.N. Ranyuk, N.A. Khizhnyak // Вопросы атомной науки и техники. — 2001. — № 3. — С. 3-5. — Бібліогр.: 3 назв. — англ. |
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| first_indexed | 2025-11-28T15:29:00Z |
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TO THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF STARTING UP
THE FIRST LINEAR ACCELERATORS AT NSC KIPT
A.N. Dovbnya, A.M. Yegorov, Yu.N. Ranyuk, N.A. Khizhnyak
National Science Center “Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology”,
1 Akademicheskaya St., Kharkov 61108, Ukraine
PACS numbers: 29.17.+w, 01.65.+g
The USSR’s first high-frequency linear accelerators
of protons, electrons and multiply charged ions were de-
signed and constructed at the Kharkov Institute of
Physics and Technology, which quickly recovered with
the end of German occupation and since 1946 has re-
sumed its research work. K.D. Sinel’nikov, the then Di-
rector of the Institute, assembled a team of scientists
with initiative, who began studies on linear methods of
charged particle acceleration, as in the war years there
appeared high-frequency generators of electromagnetic
waves so needed for linear accelerators. As early as in
1947-1948 there also appeared the first theoretical de-
velopments aimed at providing a stable interaction of
charged beams with the electromagnetic wave field.
Beginning from 1950 the Institute was reinforced by
young specialists - graduates from a special section
(opened in 1948) at the Physics-Mathematics Faculty of
the Kharkov State University (KhSU). The young physi-
cists were trained in advanced branches of physics by
the KIPT specialists. Further on, that section turned into
an independent KhSU Physico-Technical Faculty. The
authors of the present survey are all the graduates of dif-
ferent years from this faculty of the KhSU. In the KhSU
lecture-rooms and in the KIPT laboratories there were
continuous discussions about physical transformations,
electromagnetic processes, weak and strong interac-
tions.
And only recently, when the archives of the Ministry
of Middle Mechanical Engineering were disclosed, we
have come to know about the second line of the activi-
ties previously impermissible for any discussions.
In fact, in those years when the country was just
healing its wounds inflicted by the war, the Soviet Gov-
ernment allocated great funds for the development of
physical science. Of course, everyone realized that it
was for the nuclear energy, but why was that great at-
tention to the accelerator physics?
And at present, marking the fiftieth anniversary of
the onset of wide-scale investigations in accelerator
physics, one cannot remain emotionless when reading
the first decrees of the Soviet Government on the devel-
opment of work to be aimed at designing and creating
those accelerators. Now imagine the situation... The first
post-war years, the world is divided into two camps, the
former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition have become
adversaries. The Unites States are the monopolist in
possessing the nuclear weapons. They discuss there the
plans of striking nuclear blows against the USSR, cities
are chosen as first-turn targets for nuclear attack. In the
USSR, all the efforts are directed to protect the country
against the nuclear assault. It was natural that the main
efforts were aimed at creating own atomic bomb, but
there was none as yet. Different variants of repulsing the
nuclear attack were being discussed, and then physicists
put forward an idea of creating a new anti-aircraft
weapon. On the initiative of Academician N.N. Semy-
onov, a future Nobel Prize winner, the proposal was for-
mulated to create the “AAI” - a new-type anti-aircraft
installation using accelerated particle beams. It may
now appear incredible, but that proposal gave birth to
the governmental decision, now unclassified and pub-
lished in the documents concerning the “Atomic project
in the USSR, part II, an atomic bomb, 1945-1954”[1].
“Decree of the USSR Council of Ministers N3092-1249,
“On conduction of scientific research work to elucidate
the possibility of implementing the AAI installation”
Moscow, the Kremlin 15 August, 1948
Strictly confidential
(Special briefcase)
The USSR Council of Ministers decrees:
1. To charge the Chemical Physics Institute (c. Semy-
onov), Institute of Physics (c. Vavilov), Laboratory
N2 USSR AS (cs. Meshcheryakov and Mints) and
Laboratory N1 of Physico-Technical Institute
UkrSSR AS (c. Sinel’nikov) with the task to ensure
over the period of 1948-1949 the fulfilment of re-
search work associated with looking into the possi-
bility of implementing the “AAI” according to the
subject program developed by Academician Semy-
onov N.N.
2. To place the supervision and co-ordination of the
research work on elucidation of the possibility of
implementing the “AAI” on the Chemical Physics
Institute (c. Semyonov).
3. To charge the Chemical Physics Institute (c. Semy-
onov) with the following tasks:
a) by 1 October, 1948, together with Institute of
Physics (c. Vavilov), Laboratory N2 USSR AS
(cs. Meshcheryakov and Mints), Laboratory N1 of
Physico-Technical Institute UkrSSR AS (c. Sinel’nikov)
and Committee N3 at the USSR Council of Ministers
(c. Shchukin), to draw up verified programs of activities
to ensure the fulfillment of the subject program of work,
attached herewith;
b) to provide, within the Chemical Physics Institute
power (c. Semyonov) a further theoretical development
of the problems concerning the “AAI” with the use of
additional data and information as they are obtained;
c) quarterly, starting from November, 1948, to sub-
mit the reports on the progress of work at the “AAI” to
the USSR Council of Ministers.
4. To charge Committee N3 at the USSR Council of
Ministers (c. Shchukin), the Ministry of Armaments
(c. Ustinov) with the task of performing theoretical
ВОПРОСЫ АТОМНОЙ НАУКИ И ТЕХНИКИ. 2001. №3.
Серия: Ядерно-физические исследования (38), с. 3-5.
3
calculation work mentioned in the Attachment un-
der the assignment of the Chemical Physics Insti-
tute (c. Semyonov).
Chairman of the USSR
Council of Ministers I.Stalin
Business Manager
at the USSR Council of Ministers Ya.Chadayev”
Then a detailed subject program follows, where item
6) reads as:
“- Development of the design of the linear accelerator
for 500 MeV deuterons and for 1 GeV protons with a
sustained current of no less than 10 µA or an intermit-
tent current of no less than 80 µA: calculations and de-
sign of the unit,
- 1948
- Construction of the type accelerator unit with a par-
ticle beam from the Van de Graaff tube and the cy-
clotron.
- 1949
There exists one more government decree, this being
of 1954, where again the linear accelerators, including
electron linacs, are involved, but now with another line
of their applicability.
These documents directly concern our history and
now, particularly, in connection with the jubilee, it is of
interest to discuss them from two points of view.
1. Were the problems posed in those decrees realizable?
2. How will the solution of the problems posed before
the Institute influence the development of the Institute
itself and its workers, too?
3. Have the problems discussed 50 years ago any
prospects now?
It is nowadays quite natural for each student to an-
swer that the energy losses by the charged beam in the
atmosphere are so great that nobody will ever try to
“pierce” the atmosphere with accelerated particles. But
is it possible that only 50 years ago our scientists did not
know this truth? We think they did know, because this
is the truth for both the students and the majority of sci-
entific workers, not to say about Academicians. In our
opinion, for no special reason nobody would ever try to
“pierce” the atmosphere by shooting at it. If the acceler-
ators with the parameters mentioned in the decree could
be created, then another problem would arise, namely,
creation of a channel in the atmosphere to pass the ac-
celerated particles. In those years this problem was not
yet discussed, but 10 - 20 years later this problem arose,
though for other purposes. So, the first question can be
answered as follows: the problem had no straightfor-
ward solution, because there were no accelerators with
those parameters and there were no evident ways to
guide the accelerated beam to the target. And neverthe-
less, the decree was approved and great teams of scien-
tists appeared involved in the problem of accelerator
creation.
It should be stressed that the idea of a linear charged
particle accelerator was first published as early as in
1928 by the Norwegian physicist Wideroe. But in prac-
tice, it was realized in 1946 for an energy of 30 MeV by
the American physicist L. Alvarez in Berkeley
(Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, California University,
USA).
And as soon as in 1948, the design of a similar
1000 MeV accelerator was prescribed in the govern-
ment decree, the KIPT being charged with the task of
the accelerator development and construction. In 1950,
the 20 MeV Alvarez-type accelerator was put into oper-
ation [2], however, its parameters were more than mod-
est (in beam current and divergence), and at once new
problems arose. Some of them were immediately solved
[3], others called for long-standing investigations that
fell outside the scope of the problem being solved, still
others remained unsolved until now. Thus, an injection
energy of about 1 MeV required the development and
construction of small-size accelerators-injectors. The
KIPT scientists, having an experience in the develop-
ment of electrostatic open-type Van de Graaff accelera-
tors, decided to develop a pressure-insulated Van de
Graaff accelerator. The first accelerator-injector of this
kind was just made for the proton linear accelerator, and
it has proved its worth. Based on this design, a succes-
sion of pressurized electrostatic accelerators were devel-
oped by the Yefremov Electrophysical Apparatus Insti-
tute; they were supplied to all the leading nuclear cen-
ters of the USSR. And though there is no longer that
very proton accelerator at KIPT (it was taken out of ser-
vice and dismantled in the sixties), the electrostatic ac-
celerator was transformed to accelerate multiply
charged ions and it got the name EhSUVI (electrostatic
accelerator of multiply charged ions). The correct solu-
tion to the problem of injection into proton linear accel-
erators was proposed only in the seventies, when an ac-
celerator with a uniform quadrupole magnetic focusing
was built in Moscow. It has come to be known in the
world as an RFQ accelerator.
Powerful vacuum pumps were specially designed at
KIPT for the accelerators. Later, they served as a basis
for vacuum metallurgy, too.
The particle focusing in the basic accelerator was re-
alized with foils and grids and those focusing elements
were the main obstacle on the way of obtaining high
currents. Then an idea occurred to use beryllium foils as
focusing foils. But the beryllium metal started to be pro-
duced in small lots by the domestic industry was brittle.
A demand for plastic beryllium arose and the problem
of creating such a material was solved at KIPT. True
enough, by that time magnetic quadrupole lenses were
proposed and developed, they started to be used
throughout the world to focus protons in linear accelera-
tors, but ductile beryllium has appeared to be of use for
many other applications.
And the last. The proton accelerator is energized by
meter-band electromagnetic oscillations. Generators
were built on the base of lamps generally used in radar
engineering, the last ones were of low power and could
not provide the needed energization of high-power ac-
celerators. In Moscow, special attention was paid to the
development of new powerful radio engineering. The
Radio-Technical Institute was created to meet the needs
of both radar engineering and accelerator engineering.
Therefore, in the late fifties, the development of high-
power proton linear accelerators appeared to move to
Moscow.
4
A new vigorous development of proton linear accel-
erator at KIPT took place already in the seventies, when
it was proposed to create small-size proton accelerators
for applied purposes, but those were quite different ac-
celerators. The problems remain topical for the investi-
gators to-day, though they have no longer that strong
support on the part of the Government.
REFERENCES
1. Atomic Project of the USSR. Documents and Mate-
rials. (in Russian). Part II, Book 1. An atomic
bomb, 1945-1954. / Ed. by L.D. Ryabeva. Moscow-
Sarov, 2000.
2. K.D.Sinel’nikov, P.M.Zeidlits, A.M.Nekrashevich,
L.I.Bolotin, Ya.S.Shutskever, B.S.Akshanov,
N.E.Kovpak, K.A.Leontovich, A.I.Akhiezer,
I.M.Lifshits, Ya.B.Fainberg, L.N.Rozentsveig,
G.Ya.Lyubarsky, M.I.Kaganov, L.Eh.Pargamanik.
A 20.5 MGeV proton linear accelerator (in Rus-
sian) // Tr. Sessii AN UkrSSR po mirnomu ispol’zo-
vaniyu atmonoj ehnergii, Kiev, 1958, pp. 5-15.
3. A theory and calculation of linear accelerators (in
Russian) / ed. by Academician A.K.Val’ter,
Moscow, Fizmatgiz publ., 1962.
ВОПРОСЫ АТОМНОЙ НАУКИ И ТЕХНИКИ. 2001. №3.
Серия: Ядерно-физические исследования (38), с. 5-5.
5
REFERENCES
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| id | nasplib_isofts_kiev_ua-123456789-79210 |
| institution | Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine |
| issn | 1562-6016 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-28T15:29:00Z |
| publishDate | 2001 |
| publisher | Національний науковий центр «Харківський фізико-технічний інститут» НАН України |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | Dovbnya, A.N. Yegorov, A.M. Ranyuk, Yu.N. Khizhnyak, N.A. 2015-03-29T18:36:28Z 2015-03-29T18:36:28Z 2001 To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT / A.N. Dovbnya, A.M. Yegorov, Yu.N. Ranyuk, N.A. Khizhnyak // Вопросы атомной науки и техники. — 2001. — № 3. — С. 3-5. — Бібліогр.: 3 назв. — англ. 1562-6016 PACS nambers: 29.17.+w, 01.65. +g https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/79210 en Національний науковий центр «Харківський фізико-технічний інститут» НАН України Вопросы атомной науки и техники To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT К пятидесятилетию запуска первого линейного ускорителя электронов в ННЦ ХФТИ Article published earlier |
| spellingShingle | To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT Dovbnya, A.N. Yegorov, A.M. Ranyuk, Yu.N. Khizhnyak, N.A. |
| title | To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT |
| title_alt | К пятидесятилетию запуска первого линейного ускорителя электронов в ННЦ ХФТИ |
| title_full | To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT |
| title_fullStr | To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT |
| title_full_unstemmed | To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT |
| title_short | To the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at NSC KIPT |
| title_sort | to the fiftieth anniversary of starting up the first linear accelerators at nsc kipt |
| url | https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/79210 |
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