Vacuum measurements of the K500 cyclotron accelerator chamber

To evaluate the effectiveness of the unique internal cryopumping system, the pressure in the K500 superconducting cyclotron was measured as a function of radius for various gas flow rates emanating from the internal PIG source. For the test, a nude ion gauge with vertical dimension less than 2.3 cm was built and mounted on the internal beam probe. The effect of magnetic field on the ion gauge reading was determined and a method of degaussing the cyclotron was devised. Data from the normal shielded ion gauge located approximately 6 m away from the median plane was correlated with the internal vacuum measurements. (author)