Preparation of animal irradiation experiments with laser-accelerated protons and pulsed high-field magnets

Laser-driven ion acceleration has been considered a potential alternative for conventional accelerators like cyclotrons or synchrotrons and thus could provide a more compact and cost-efficient particle therapy solution in the future. Instead of continuous ion beams, laser-driven ions exhibit fs to ps bunch length, carrying up to 1013 particles with broad energy spectrum and are highly divergent. Pulsed high-field magnets are a versatile and efficient way of shaping those bunches both spatially and spectrally for application, while preserving the short pulse lengths and high intensities leading to high dose rates when stopped in matter.
We performed experiments with the PW beam of the Dresden laser acceleration source Draco to investigate the feasibility of worldwide first controlled volumetric tumour irradiations with laser-accelerated protons. Therefore, a setup of up to two solenoid magnets was used to efficiently capture and shape the proton beam, matching the radiobiological demands, which was then analysed by means of a Thomson parabola spectrometer, scintillator, ionization chamber and radiochromic film.