drift tube for linear accelerator

A drift tube from the Linac 1. This was the first tank of the linear accelerator Linac1, the injection system for the Proton Synchrotron, It ran for 34 years (1958 - 1992). Protons entered at the far end and were accelerated between the copper drift tubes by an oscillating electromagnetic field. The field flipped 200 million times a second (200 MHz) so the protons spent 5 nanoseconds crossing a drift tube and a gap. Moving down the tank, the tubes and gaps had to get longer as the protons gained speed. The tank accelerated protons from 500 KeV to 10 MeV. Linac1 was also used to accelerate deutrons and alpha particles for the Intersecting Storage Rings and oxygen and sulpher ions for the Super Proton Synchrotron heavy ion programme.