What is cyclotron ? Discuss the principle of cyclotron.

Explanation

1. Cyclotron is a device used to accelerated charged particles like protons, deuterons, `alpha`-particles etc., to very high energies. It was invented by E.O.Lawrence and M.S.Livingston in 1934.
2. The cyclotron uses both electric and magnetic fields in combination to increase the energy of charged particles. As the fields are perpendicular to each other they are called crossed fields. Cyclotron uses the fact that the frequency of revolution of the charged particle in a magnetic field is independent of its energy.
3. Principle : A charged particle can be accelerated to very high energies by making it pass through a moderate electric field a number of times. This can be done with the help of a perpendicular magnetic field which throws the charged particle into a circular motion, the frequency of which does not depend on the speed of the particle and the radius of the circular orbit.