International Conference on Cyclotrons and their Applications

The event is the 21^st edition of the International Conference on Cyclotrons and their Applications. The series started in 1959, and since then every three years leading experts meet and discuss progress in cyclotron technology, in understanding the underlying physics and in developing applications.

ETH Zurich hosts this conference for the second time. 1975 cyclotron scientists from around the world came for the first time to Zurich, to attend an event then organized by the Swiss Institute for Nuclear Physics (Schweizerisches Institut für Nuklearphysik, SIN), which was later merged with the Federal Institute for Reactor Research (Eidgenössisches Institut für Reaktorforschung, EIR) to form the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). This year, ETH professor Klaus Kirch, together with PSI scientists Dr. Mike Seidel and Prof. Marco Schippers, took the lead in putting together a diverse six-day programme. The key objective of the event is to provide a forum for exchanging ideas that will lead to the further development of cyclotrons, providing even greater opportunities for research and applications in cyclotron-based facilities.

The cyclotron has a long and successful history already. Cyclotrons use a simple and effective concept to accelerate charged particles. Originally developed in 1929 for fundamental research — Ernest Lawrence received the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention — cyclotrons are today utilized for a wide range of applications, in the basic sciences as well as in industry and medicine. PSI operates two accelerator facilities that are driven by cyclotrons: the High Intensity Proton Accelerator, HIPA, which generates a very intense beam of 1.4-MW power, and the proton-therapy facility Proscan with three gantries. These facilities host a broad variety of research activities, from particle physics with intense muon beams and ultra-cold neutrons, to solid-state physics with thermal neutrons and surface muons, to isotope production and cancer treatment with precise proton-beam irradiation. A large international user community, including many researchers from ETH and PSI, use the spectrum of opportunities offered and produce a steady stream of important results — as evident also from the numerous contributions to this conference.