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Realizing a laser-driven electron source applicable for radiobiological tumor irradiation

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Abstract

Laser-accelerated electron pulses have been used to irradiate human tumors grown on mice’s ears during radiobiological experiments. These experiments have been carried out with the JETI laser system at the Institute of Optics and Quantum Electronics in Jena, Germany. To treat a total of more than 50 mice, a stable and reliable operation of the laser-electron accelerator with a dose rate exceeding 1 Gy/min was necessary. To achieve this, a sufficient number of electrons at energies in excess of 5 MeV had to be generated. The irradiation time for a single mouse was a few minutes. Furthermore, the particle pulses’ parameters needed to remain achievable for a time period of several weeks. Due to the online detection of the radiation dose, the unavoidable shot-to-shot fluctuations, currently still typical for laser-based particle accelerators, could be compensated. The results demonstrate that particle pulses generated with laser-based accelerators have the potential to be a future alternative for conventional particle accelerators used for the irradiation of tumors.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the support by the BMBF (contracts 03ZIK445, 03Z1N511, 03Z1H531 and 05K10SJ2) and by the DFG (TR18).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Optics and Quantum Electronics, Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Maria Nicolai, Alexander Sävert, Maria Reuter, Michael Schnell, Jens Polz, Oliver Jäckel & Malte C. Kaluza

  2. Helmholtz-Institute Jena, Fröbelstieg 3, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Maria Reuter, Oliver Jäckel & Malte C. Kaluza

  3. OncoRay, National Center for Radiation Research in Oncology, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstraße 74, 01307, Dresden, Germany

    Leonhard Karsch, Michael Schürer, Melanie Oppelt & Jörg Pawelke

  4. Institute of Radiation Physics, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, P.O. Box 510119, 01314, Dresden, Germany

    Jörg Pawelke

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  1. Maria Nicolai
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Correspondence to Maria Nicolai.

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Nicolai, M., Sävert, A., Reuter, M. et al. Realizing a laser-driven electron source applicable for radiobiological tumor irradiation. Appl. Phys. B 116, 643–651 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-013-5747-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-013-5747-0

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