Physical Review Accelerators and Beams (Dec 2020)

Demonstration of tailored energy deposition in a laser proton accelerator

  • J. G. Zhu,
  • M. J. Wu,
  • K. Zhu,
  • Y. X. Geng,
  • Q. Liao,
  • D. Y. Li,
  • T. Yang,
  • M. J. Easton,
  • C. C. Li,
  • X. H. Xu,
  • Y. R. Shou,
  • J. Q. Yu,
  • Z. Gong,
  • Y. Y. Zhao,
  • P. J. Wang,
  • D. H. Wang,
  • L. Tao,
  • C. E. Chen,
  • W. J. Ma,
  • H. Y. Lu,
  • T. Tajima,
  • G. Mourou,
  • C. Lin,
  • X. Q. Yan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.23.121304
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 12
p. 121304

Abstract

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In order to implement radiotherapy based on a laser accelerator, it is necessary to precisely control the spatial distribution and energy spectrum of the proton beams to meet the requirements of the radiation dose distribution in the three-dimensional biological target. A compact laser plasma accelerator has been built at Peking University, which can reliably generate and transport MeV-energy protons with a specified energy onto the irradiation platform. In this paper, we discuss several technologies for the accurate control of a laser-accelerated proton beam with large divergence angle and broad energy spread, including the determination of the beam source position with micron accuracy, a tuning algorithm for the transport line which we refer to as “matching-image-point two-dimensional energy analysis” to realize accurate energy selection, and the control of beam distribution uniformity. In the prototype experiment with low energy protons and 0.5-Hz irradiation rate, a tailored energy deposition is demonstrated, which shows the potential feasibility of future irradiation based on laser-accelerated proton beams.