The 4th ELIMED Workshop MEDical and Multidisciplinary Applications of Laser-driven Ion Beams at ELI Beamlines Facility

Contribution List

16. A 4 W average power deuteron beam driven fast neutron source and its application in radiobiology

Lecture

A laser-based neutron source was commissioned using the 1 kHz repetition rate SYLOS3 laser of ELI-ALPS, delivering 80mJ, sub-10 fs laser pulses on a colliding liquid jet. The cutoff energy of the deuterons accelerated from the actively stabilized liquid sheet of 600 nm exceeded 2 MeV. The average power of the laser-accelerated ion beam was greater than 10 W, whereas the deuteron beam was kept...

39. A neural network-based synthetic diagnostic of laser-accelerated proton energy spectra

Poster

Machine‑learning techniques are emerging as powerful tools for advancing laser‑plasma accelerators, enabling real‑time optimisation, predictive modelling and increased automation of experimental campaigns. In high‑repetition‑rate laser‑driven ion acceleration, the large parameter space and significant shot‑to‑shot variability create a critical need for continuous, non‑disruptive diagnostics...

42. Accelerator radiation environment and electronics testing approaches at CERN

Lecture

With the ever-increasing energies of particle acceleration for physics research, the radiation-induced failures become a prominent issue limiting the productivity of CERN's accelerator complex operation. Over the years, different approaches for the radiation-tolerant electronic designs have been consolidated into the Radiation Hardness Assurance (RHA) guidelines, progressively adopted by...

38. ARISE: Algorithm for Rapid Ion Spectrum Extraction for High-Repetition-Rate Laser-Driven Ion Acceleration

Poster

Advances in high‑power, high‑repetition‑rate (HRR) laser systems are driving a transition toward data‑rich, statistically informed approaches in laser‑driven particle acceleration. Realising the full potential of HRR operation requires automated diagnostics and rapid on‑shot data analysis capable of keeping pace with increasing shot rates. To address this need, we introduce ARISE (Algorithm...

43. Automated control of laser–solid interactions for high-repetition-rate ion acceleration

Lecture

Laser-plasma acceleration has enormous potential to provide sources of ultra-short ion beams. However, several factors hamper their wider adoption, such as the low shot-to-shot stability, large beam divergence and the difficulty of high-repetition rate operation. In recent years, there has been a large community effort to develop refreshing targets, together with online diagnostics so that the...

2. Bio-Medical application of laser driven GeV electrons

Poster

Recent advances in ultra-intense laser technology have enabled the production of high-energy electron beams in the GeV range through laser-driven acceleration. These sources offer unique properties, such as ultra-short pulse duration and extremely high dose rates, making them highly relevant for biomedical and radiobiological applications, particularly in the context of FLASH...

45. Biological effectiveness of proton irradiation in early chicken embryos: first radiobiological experiments at ELIMAIA–ELIMED

Lecture

The establishment of extraterrestrial multigenerational colonies of animals and humans requires the capability for sexual reproduction, and normal embryonic development is essential for producing healthy individuals. Early embryogenesis, including germ layer formation, axis establishment, and organogenesis (including gonad development), is highly sensitive to external stressors that may...

15. Carbon Ion Acceleration from Ultrathin Foils Under Near-Transparency Conditions at Apollon 3-Petawatt

Poster

Laser-driven ion acceleration offers a compact alternative to conventional accelerator technology for medical applications, particularly carbon-ion radiotherapy, where high linear energy transfer and enhanced relative biological effectiveness are key advantages in treating radio-resistant tumours. Recent advances in multi-petawatt laser systems enable exploration of advanced acceleration...

29. Carbon Ultra-High Dose Rate Irradiation: in vivo and in vitro results

Lecture

W. Tinganelli1, O. Sokol1, O. Drayson1, W. Kai1, J.Jansen1, C.Vandevoorde1, Q. Huang2, J. Schuemann2, H. Paganetti2, D. Boscolo1, C. Schuy1, M. Durante1,3,4, U. Weber1,5.

1Biophysics Department. GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH. Darmstadt, Germany
2Department of Radiation Oncology. Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School. Boston, USA
3Institute of...

18. Comparing DNA Damage Responses to Low and High LET Radiation: Is Laser Micro Irradiation a Valid High LET Model?

Lecture

Ionizing radiation induces complex DNA damage whose nature and repair depend strongly on linear energy transfer (LET). Low‑LET radiation (e.g., X‑rays, γ‑rays) predominantly generates isolated lesions, whereas high‑LET ions produce densely clustered damage that challenges repair pathways and drives distinct cellular outcomes. Laser micro‑irradiation is widely used to study DNA damage responses...

14. Comparison of Magnetic Quadrupoles and Solenoids for Collimation of Laser-Driven Ion Beams

Poster

The research involves the design of a proton beamline to be implemented at the Extreme Photonics Applications Centre (EPAC) laser system in order to achieve a well collimated and monoenergetic beam to be used for a variety of applications. Three beamlines were designed and optimised for a range of proton beam energies using the particle tracing software TraceWin. These consisted of a permanent...

37. Development of a High‑Repetition‑Rate Laser‑Driven Ion Platform at SCAPA

Poster

Laser‑driven ion acceleration at high repetition rate is being advanced at the Scottish Centre for the Application of Plasma-based Accelerators (SCAPA) through the development of a dedicated ion‑source platform in Bunker B. Using a 350 TW, 5 Hz Ti:Sapphire laser system, the platform is engineered to deliver stable proton beams at multi‑Hz repetition rates, supported by new target‑delivery...

30. Development of Active Dosimeters for the ELIMAIA/ELIMED Beamline

Christina Antoniadou (ELI)

Poster

High-power laser facilities generate ultra-short (sub-nanosecond), ultra-high dose-rate particle fields with instantaneous dose rates reaching $10^{8} - 10^{10}$ Gy/s and complex mixed particle compositions including neutrons, photons, electrons, and protons. Accurate dosimetry under these conditions remains a major challenge due to detector saturation, recombination effects, limited temporal...

41. Efficient Capture and Transport of Laser-Accelerated Carbon Ions Using Solenoid Magnets

Poster

Hadron therapy with laser-accelerated particles is an emerging research area that introduces significant challenges for beam capture and transport due to the large divergence and broad phase space of the produced ions. Efficient collection of these particles is essential for the development of practical laser-driven therapy beamlines.
In this work, the use of solenoid magnets for the capture...

35. ELI Beamlines Virtual Lab: pilot in non-destructive methods for heritage testing

Poster

Laser-driven secondary sources provide compact, versatile, and high-brilliance beams of ions and radiation, enabling advanced applications beyond fundamental plasma physics. However, translating these capabilities into structured, user-oriented analytical services requires coordinated workflow design, data management, and expert interpretation. We present the Virtual Lab project, focused on...

31. ELIMED Beam Transport Section

Poster

The ELIMAIA–ELIMED user beamline at ELI Beamlines provides an advanced platform for acceleration, selection, and application of laser-driven ion beams. Designed to bridge laser–plasma acceleration research with multidisciplinary applications, it combines a Petawatt-class level system with a versatile particle beam transport, diagnostic, and dosimetry system.
The ELIMAIA section [1, 2] hosts...

27. ELIMED Radiobiology Platform

Lecture

The ELIMED beamline at ELI Beamlines represents a dedicated user platform designed to deliver laser-driven proton (LDP) beams for multidisciplinary research, including radiobiology. Powered by the L3 HAPLS 1 PW-class laser system, ELIMED enables proton energy selection and controlled multi-shot irradiations. Achieved user-usable proton energies are in the range of 15 – 25 MeV, with cut-off...

32. ELIMED secondary particle diagnostics

Poster

Laser-induced accelerators can produce a broadband spectrum of charged particles to be used for a wide variety of applications including nuclear and particle physics, material science, and nuclear medicine. The produced ion beams are very intense and very short, which makes it very challenging to characterize the beam and secondary radiation. Stray radiation - such as photons, electrons, and...

46. Establishing the radiobiological application of a laser-induced neutron beam

Lecture

The application of laser-driven particle sources in their developmental stage presents unique challenges for radiobiology research. Standard methodologies are often difficult to implement when the requisite infrastructure - such as dedicated biological endstations - is not yet fully available. Consequently, researchers must develop adaptive strategies to utilize these sources...

25. First dosimetric commissioning of the ELIMAIA–ELIMED laser-driven proton beamline for biomedical applications

Lecture

Laser-driven ion beams represent a promising tool for biomedical applications, provided that robust and traceable dosimetric protocols are established to accurately characterize beam parameters under ultra-high-dose-rate conditions. In this contribution, we report on the first dosimetric commissioning of the ELIMAIA–ELIMED beamline at ELI Beamlines (Czech Republic), performed using...

24. Flash research at the Dresden platform for ultra-high dose-rate radiobiology

Lecture

The FLASH effect describes the observation of normal tissue protection by ultra-high dose rates (UHDR), i.e. dose delivery in a fraction of a second, at similar tumor-killing efficacy of conventional dose delivery and promises great benefits for radiotherapy patients. Dedicated studies are now necessary to define a robust and optimum set of dose application parameters for FLASH radiotherapy...

6. From Concept to Preclinical Demonstration: Prospects of Laser-Based Production of 11C

Lecture

Fast-decaying isotopes such as 11C are ideally suited for positron emission tomography (PET) applications requiring high-quality imaging while minimizing patient radiation exposure and radioactive waste. Despite these advantages, access to such isotopes remains limited in underprivileged regions. Several successful demonstrations of nuclear reactions induced by high-power lasers and relevant...

40. From Conventional to Laser-Driven Ion Beams: PIXE and XRF Applications in Cultural Heritage

Lecture

PIXE (particle-induced X-ray emission) and XRF (X-ray fluorescence) have been widely applied in cultural heritage studies due to their non destructivity, high sensitivity and relatively simple implementation under atmospheric-pressure conditions (1).
Recently, laser-driven protons and X-rays have also begun to be applied in the field of cultural heritage research (3), offering the advantage...

23. From Laser-Driven Particle Beams to Clinical Translation: Progress and Challenges

Lecture

Advanced radiation oncology is undergoing rapid technological transformation, driven by innovations in beam delivery, imaging, and data-driven optimization. This talk provides an overview of the current status of modern radiotherapy, including hypofractionation and simultaneous integrated boost strategies, adaptive and motion-managed treatments, and the increasing use of AI-assisted...

34. High Energy Implementation of Helical Coil Targets at Petawatt-class fs Lasers Systems

Lecture

Laser-driven ion acceleration is a promising compact alternative to conventional ion accelerators, with applications spanning fusion research, medical technologies, industrial processing, security, and cultural heritage studies. A key challenge is advancing laser-driven proton sources toward application-relevant performance, particularly in terms of beam energy, beam quality, and compatibility...

10. In Vitro Evaluation of Nanoparticle-Mediated X-PDT using a High-Power Laser-Driven Source

Poster

Cancer remains a leading cause of death worldwide, requiring more effective treatment strategies to overcome the limitations of traditional therapies, such as toxicity and drug resistance. While Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) offers advantages like minimal invasiveness, its effectiveness is restricted by the limited penetration depth of visible light in biological tissues. To address this, this...

7. In-vitro cell irradiation experiments at L2A2 and CLPU

Lecture

Laser-based sources of ionizing radiation have been gaining attention for research in radiobiology due to their very high instantaneous dose rates. Studies with cell cultures require stable operation of the radiation source, high flux, and means of dose control. Recently, a first set of related experiments has been accomplished at the two high-power laser facilities in Spain and improvements...

1. Investigating High-Dose-Rate Electron Irradiation for Radiobiological Applications Using a 10 PW Laser Source

Poster

Recent advances in high-power laser technology have enabled new approaches to electron acceleration, facilitating the development of innovative irradiation platforms for radiobiological research. Ultrahigh dose rate (UHDR) radiation delivery has emerged as a promising strategy in cancer therapy, particularly due to the FLASH effect, which has been shown to maintain antitumor efficacy while...

3. Ion acceleration from high-density transparent gas jets: towards high-repetition rate sources for fundamental science and applications

Lecture

Near-critical-density gas jets irradiated by ultra-intense (∼10²⁰–10²² W/cm²), ultrashort (<100 fs) laser pulses offer a promising route toward compact, high-repetition-rate (HRR) ion accelerators. Compared with solid targets, gas jets provide intrinsic self-replenishment, negligible debris, and flexibility in ion species. However, unlike solids where target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA)...

9. Isotope production in 209Bi photoactivation induced with a laserdriven bremsstrahlung source

Lecture

Photonuclear reactions are a powerful tool to probe the quantum structure of the atomic nucleus by inducing single-particle and collective excitations [1], and also played a significant role in the first moments of our universe or later in stellar nucleosynthesis
processes [2]. These reactions are also of great interest because of their many societal applications, such as national security,...

26. Laser-driven ion acceleration towards hadrontherapy in the framework of the DR. LASER project

Lecture

Improving access to novel and advanced cancer treatment and diagnostic technologies remains a major societal and medical challenge. Within this framework, the ELI-NP has initiated a comprehensive research program through the Dr. LASER project, part of the National Health Program and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Romanian Government. The project aims to advance...

19. Laser-driven proton acceleration experiments at HZDR: Relativistically induced transparency for high-energy beams and applications

Lecture

Ion acceleration via compact laser-plasma sources holds great potential for applications from radiation therapy research to fusion research. Achieving the desired beam quality requires a deep understanding and precise control of laser-plasma interactions. Our collaborative research at the DRACO PW (HZDR) and J-KAREN-P (KPSI) laser systems investigates the promising regime of Relativistically...

12. Laser-driven proton therapy study on human colorectal cancer 3D model (spheroids)

Lecture

Pavol Lukáč1,2,, Pavel Bláha3, Leonid Sushytskyi1, Lenka Rajsiglová1, Paolo Tenti1,2, Dmitry Stakheev1,4, Daniel Smrž1,4, Lorenzo Giuffrida3, Daniele Margarone3, Luca Vannucci1,

• Presenting Authors

1 Laboratory of Immunotherapy, Institute of Microbiology of the CAS v.v.i., Prague, Czech Republic
2 Department of Cells Biology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech...

4. Laser-Driven Radiation Sources for PIXE and XRF Applied to Cultural Heritage Analysis

Lecture

Laser-driven particle acceleration based on solid targets [1] is promising for a wide range of applications, from nuclear medicine to materials characterization. Laser-plasma radiation sources are attractive because they can generate various types of radiation (e.g., high-energy electrons, ions, neutrons, and γ-rays), allow for energy tuning, and can operate within potentially compact setups....

22. Liquid target development for high-repetition-rate laser operations

Poster

Liquid targets are well-suited for high-repetition-rate laser experiments due to their unique combination of fast renewability and excellent shot-to-shot reproducibility.

We present a compact deionized (DI) water target system and a proof-of-principle demonstration of ion acceleration and X-ray emission up to 1 kHz repetition rate [1].

The target is based on a high-pressure...

20. Measurement of the space radiation environment characteristics with Timepix-based detection setups

Lecture

This contribution discussed the space radiation environments in near earth orbits and the development of radiation detectors based on Timepix-technology for radiation dosimetry and radiation field decomposition.

Profiting from their single-layer particle discrimination, Timepix-type detectors provide science-class data capability with a large field of view at an order of magnitude lower...

11. Nanofoam based double layer targets for laser-plasma interaction experiments

Lecture

The availability of ultra-high intense laser systems (I>10^18 W/cm
2) has stimulated growing interest in advancing research in the field of particle acceleration and radiation generation via intense laser-matter interaction [1]. For instance, a precise control over the laser pulse parameters (e.g., intensity) and the solid target properties (e.g., thickness, density, and surface conditioning)...

5. Non-equilibrium dynamics and interaction characteristics via femtosecond Pulsed Laser annealing of ultra-thin metal films

Poster

The process of modifying material properties using ultrashort laser pulses conveys more importance than it seems due to the non-equilibrium Two-Temperature model that it discuss.
It is proven that there is improvement in electrical conductivity of low temperature synthesized 2D semiconductor thin-film ultra-short pulsed laser annealing (PLA). This process make use of a solid state...

13. Optimising Hole-Boring Radiation Pressure Acceleration to Generate Energetic, Beamed Alpha-particles via Boron-proton Fusion

Lecture

The proton-boron (pB) fusion reaction generates three alpha particles and releases 8.7 MeV of energy. It has been proposed as an alpha particle source for applications such as medical radioisotope production. However, radioisotopes of interest (e.g. $^{43}$Sc and $^{211}$At) require alpha particle energies in the range of 10-50 MeV to produce, which is significantly beyond the typical energy...

8. Particle Tracking and Mixed-Radiation Field Characterization with Timepix3 in Particle Radiotherapy and Outer Space

Lecture

The semiconductor pixel detectors Timepix provide noiseless radiation imaging capability, per-pixel spectral sensitivity, photon-counting response and particle-type resolving power for detailed dosimetry and composition and spectral characterization of complex radiation fields. High-resolution radiation spectrometry and wide field-of-view particle tracking on single particle tracks provide...

21. Proton-Boron Capture Therapy (PBCT) with laser-driven beams: Harnessing the clinical potential of proton-boron fusion to advance cancer patients' welfare

Lecture

Proton-Boron Capture Therapy (PBCT) represents a novel strategy based on the proton-boron (pB) fusion reaction to enhance the biological effectiveness of protontherapy (PT) at killing cancer cells. PT promises significant reduction of normal-tissue radiotoxicity, hence of late-occurring complications compared to photon-based conventional radiotherapy (CRT), due to the inverse dose-depth...

17. Radiation protection assessments of pulsed fields for laser medical applications

Lecture

Acceleration mechanisms based on high power lasers are naturally ramping-up towards important applications, like the medical investigations and treatment procedures. Although situated in a very incipient stage of development, the short bursts of ionizing radiations produced with the help of lasers found their path to important medical practices, bringing along a set of new features that could...

33. Real-Time Detection and Characterization of Ion Beams at ELI Beamlines

Poster

The advancement of high-intensity, high-repetition-rate laser systems has made real-time detection and characterization of laser-generated plasma parameters increasingly important. These parameters include gamma radiation, electrons, high-energy protons, and heavier ions. Accurate measurement of ion beams is essential for understanding their energy distribution, charge-state composition, and...

36. Real-time ionoacoustics-based ultra-high dose rate dosimetry for VHEE and laser-driven proton irradiation monitoring

Lecture

Thermoacoustic emissions are generated by pulses of ionizing radiation (thereafter referred to as ionoacoustics) depositing their energy in a medium. For single ionizing pulses or pulse trains much shorter than the time it takes for the acoustic wave to propagate through the heated volume, the pressure produced varies linearly with the dose per pulse. In these conditions, the pressure is also...

28. Stabilising Laser-Driven Proton Sources with Real-Time Optimisation and Machine-Learning-based Synthetic Diagnostics

Lecture

Laser-driven ion beams offer intrinsically ultrashort bunches and extreme instantaneous dose rates that are attractive for multidisciplinary applications spanning radiobiology, dosimetry, radiation resilience and imaging. However, translating these sources into reliable ’user beams‘ remains challenging because key beam properties (e.g. spectral shape, cut-off energy, divergence and dose) are...

44. Ultrahigh dose rate response modeling and understanding: where do we stand

Lecture

After 10 years of collection of an impressive amount of positive experimental data in FLASH radiotherapy research, fundamental limitations still impact its full clinical exploitation. Indeed, the demonstration of a sparing effect, observed in vivo on normal tissues when a ultra high dose rate (UHDR) radiation delivery is adopted instead of a conventional one, with the parallel finding of no...