Description
Laser-plasma accelerators (LPAs) provide compact sources of relativistic electron beams with significant potential for a wide range of scientific, industrial, and medical applications. This work investigates the dosimetry of broadband electron beams generated using the Arcturus laser system at the Institute of Laser and Plasma Physics, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, and explores their potential application in radiation therapy. The Arcturus laser system delivers pulse energies of several hundred millijoules, enabling electron acceleration within the plasma through the direct laser acceleration (DLA) mechanism. This process produces broadband electron beams with kinetic energies in the low-MeV range, making them promising candidates for low-energy electron radiotherapy applications. We present the design and implementation of the experimental platform, as well as the calibration procedures for two diagnostic systems used for beam characterization. Furthermore, we report the first experimental results obtained during recent measurement campaigns and combine these findings with Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the dosimetric properties of the generated electron beams. Particular emphasis is placed on comparing the dose deposition characteristics of these broadband laser-driven electron beams with those of conventional clinical electron beams produced by linear accelerators (LINACs).
