PS proton source

The first proton source used at CERN's Proton Synchrotron (PS) which started operation in 1959. This is CERN's oldest accelerator still functioning today (2018). It is part of the accelerator chain that supplies proton beams to the Large Hadron Collider. The source is a Thonemann type. In order to extract and accelerate the protons at high energy, a high frequency electrical field is used (140Mhz). The field is transmitted by a coil around a discharge tube in order to maintain the gas hydrogen in an ionised state. An electrical field pulse, in the order of 15kV, is then applied via an impulse transformer between anode and cathode of the discharge tube. The electrons and protons of the plasma formed in the ionised gas in the tube, are then separated. Currents in the order of 200mA during 100 microseconds have benn obtained with this type of source.