Description
Understanding the underlying mechanisms of the interaction of radiation with cells and tissues is the central goal of radiobiology.
The search for approaches to widen the therapeutic window by sparing healthy tissue while maintaining tumour control led to the idea of using ultra-high radiation dose rates.
Laser-driven ion acceleration represents a completely new approach for producing high-quality ion beams characterized by ultrashort pulse durations on the order of picoseconds and very high dose rates per pulse of up to 10^9 Gy/s. These beam properties, which are difficult to achieve with conventional radio-frequency accelerators, make laser-driven ion beams highly attractive for exploring the potential benefit of using ultra-high dose rates in radiotherapy.
A research platform for studying the interaction of laser-driven ion beams with biological tissue will be developed at the ELI-NP (Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics) facility, where multi-PW laser systems are already running. We will present preliminary results on a novel particle-acceleration approach in which a vortex laser pulse is used to collimate the particle beam, enabling highly efficient ion-beam collection and transport for future radiobiology experiments.
