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John Vincent
Electronics Department Head
Accelerator Physics & Engineering
 
PhD, Electrical Engineering, Michigan State University 1996
Joined NSCL in July 1983
Phone(517) 908-7390
Fax(517) 353-5967
Office1300H
 
Photograph of John Vincent

Selected Publications:
Status Report on the NSCL RF Fragment
Separator, M. Doleans et al., Proc. Part. Accel.
Conf. PAC07, 3585 (2007)

Design, Construction and Commissioning
of the SUSI ECR, P.A. Zavodszky et al., Proc.
Part. Accel. Conf. PAC07, 3766 (2007)

Adaptive Feedforward Cancellation of Sinusoidal
Disturbances in Superconducting
RF Cavities, T.H. Kandil et al., Nucl. Instrum.
Meth. Phys. Res. A 550, 514 (2005)

Inexpensive RF Modeling and Analysis Techniques
as Applied to Cyclotrons, J. Vincent,
Proc. 16th Int. Conf. Cyclotrons and their
Applications 2001, p. 293 (2001)

Medical Accelerator Projects at Michigan
State University, H. Blosser et al., Proc. 1989
IEEE Part. Accel. Conf. PAC89, 742 (1989)
My research interests are in RF electronics and resonant structures, power electronics, systems engineering, and controls.

Accelerators I led the effort for the design and construction of the modern RF systems for the two superconducting cyclotrons (K500 and K1200) used for nuclear physics research at NSCL, as well as a neutron cancer therapy cyclotron used in a Detroit hospital. I have also consulted on two proton cancer therapy machines in Europe, as well as a new state-of-the-art proton therapy machine currently being developed in the US. Recently I have been involved in the design & development of advanced RF controls for superconducting RF cavities.

Rf systems My interests include the design and development of charged particle accelerator RF resonators, RF power amplifiers from 100s of Watts to 100s of KWs, as well as sophisticated RF controls, modulation electronics, and associated algorithms in the frequency range up to 1 GHz. As an example, continuing collaborative efforts with the MSU College of Engineering have yielded advanced innovative control algorithms and associated electronics applied to the control of superconducting RF cavities.


RF Separator Control Station showing custom electronic modules and software interfaces.

Power Supplies, Controls, and Instrumentation Accelerators push the limits of stability and accuracy for power supplies, instrumentation and controls. For example, high quality industrial programmable power supplies are typically single polarity supplies that can only source energy (single quadrant) and regulate to about 1 part in 1000. Accelerator laboratories, on the other hand, typically require bipolar supplies that can both source and sink energy (4 quadrant) and regulate to at least 1:10,000. As another example, 12-bit resolution is considered high quality in industrial control and embedded systems, whereas accelerator systems typically require at least 16-bit resolution. My group has developed highly sophisticated instrumentation, 4 quadrant power supplies, and MIMO control algorithms and continue to improve and innovate in these areas. We also develop sophisticated software interfaces to the laboratory systems and are currently engaged in developing console software that is agile and crossplatform (Windows, Linux, OS X).