A new type of accelerator for charged particle cancer therapy

Non-scaling Fixed Field Alternating Gradient accelerators (ns-FFAGs) show great potential for the
acceleration of protons and light ions for the treatment of certain cancers. They have unique features as they combine
techniques from the existing types of accelerators, cyclotrons and synchrotrons, and hence look to have advantages over
both for this application. However, these unique features meant that it was necessary to build one of these accelerators to
show that it works and to undertake a detailed conceptual design of a medical machine. Both of these have now been
done. This paper will describe the concepts of this type of accelerator, show results from the proof-of-principle machine
(EMMA) and described the medical machine (PAMELA).