Question

What is a cyclotron? Write down the expression for cyclotron frequency.

Answer 1

A Cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator in which charged particles accelerate outwards from the centre along a spiral path. These particles are held to a spiral trajectory by a static magnetic field and accelerated by a rapidly varying electric field.

The frequency is given by :

$\nu =\frac{qB}{2\pi m}$

Where $q$ is charge of particle, $B$ is magnetic field used in cyclotron and $m$ is mass of the charged particle.