Laser-plasma based proton accelerators for small animal pre-clinical radiation research

Laser-plasma based proton accelerators as a novel accelerator technology have matured to a level at which laboratory-scale setups for the emerging topic of image-guided precision small animal irradiation studies come into reach [Bra2019]. Providing a high proton energy bandwidth [Sch2016] which is filtered in a tunable pulsed magnet beam transport, these accelerators enable flexibility in terms of scattering-free irradiation field formation [Mas2014, Mas2015]. Regarding temporal dose delivery, with single pulse doses reaching the Gy level at unprecedented peak dose rates of up to 1012 Gy/s [Sch2016], laser-plasma based proton accelerator setups can give access to the dose rate regime of FLASH [Fav2014, Voz2019].
The realization of a full-scale setup for image-guided precision radiobiological studies for small animals focusing on dose rate dependent effects is currently prepared at the PENELOPE laser-plasma based proton accelerator at HZDR and will be presented with a focus on the technological requirements and solutions for dose delivery at laser-plasma based sources.
This development relies on our experience in performing dose-controlled radiobiological in vitro studies [Kra2010, Zei2013] and first in vivo irradiation experiments at the DRACO laser-plasma based proton accelerator at HZDR, where we have established a pulsed solenoid beamline for 3D irradiation field formation, yielding a (5 mm)³ homogeneous volumetric dose distribution at a Gy single pulse dose level [8].
[Bra2019] F.-E. Brack, F. Kroll, L. Gaus, C. Bernert, E. Beyreuther, T. E. Cowan, L. Karsch, S. D. Kraft, L. A. Kunz-Schughart, E. Lessmann, J. Metzkes-Ng, L. Obst-Hübl, J. Pawelke, M. Rehwald, H.-P. Schlenvoigt, U. Schramm, M. Sobiella, E. R. Szabó, T. Ziegler, K. Zeil, Spectral and spatial shaping of laser-driven proton beams using a pulsed high-field magnet beamline. arXiv:1910.08430 (2019)
[Sch2016] J. Schreiber, P. Bolton, K. Parodi, “Hands-on” laser-driven ion acceleration: A primer for laser-driven source development and potential applications, Rev. Sci. Instr. 87, 071101 (2016)