Smart diagnostics for in situ light and particle beam imaging

以极高的精度将强烈的光子、X射线和粒子束完全透明地原位传输的能力为基础科学和应用科学开辟了新的方向。无论是用于表征纳米尺寸的结构，允许在切割时在材料的不同深度处动态激光光斑聚焦，还是在放射治疗期间控制X射线或粒子束的输送和剂量，新技术都擅长提供实时测量和输出，可用于快速校正光束形状，位置和强度。在曼彻斯特大学，发明了一种新的方法，以高空间分辨率和高更新率对完全透明的强光束进行成像。该开发是由当前和未来设施的需求和最终用户的要求与几个设施组在技术的尖端操作密切合作驱动的。该技术一直在与选定的用户密切合作进行试验，并已被证明是非常成功的，用户希望购买和使用这项创新技术。这种兴趣反过来又导致了我们的技术转让办公室（UMIP有限公司）积极和财政支持的基本方法的保护。在深入评估本发明的商业潜力之后。通过与潜在许可证持有者的会谈，我们确定了一个希望在2010年将该技术商业化的首选商业合作伙伴。他们帮助我们制定了将我们的技术推向市场的战略。这一战略要求开发两种他们想推向市场的产品。他们的兴趣是可以理解的：如果考虑到所产生的技术演示器的高质量，则可以通过与合作用户收集的令人印象深刻的评估结果来支持。但最重要的是，该技术提供了真正新的诊断能力。例如，测量光束的横截面强度分布（成像）的能力是唯一的，在其他任何地方都不可用。此外，实时图像处理系统通过大规模并行处理，能够快速提取基本数据（积分强度，中心位置和光束尺寸），消除了对高速接口和离线处理的要求。类似的系统目前在市场上其他任何地方都不可用。从直接与最终用户和潜在许可证持有人交谈的市场研究表明，该技术的销售将能够在现有和新客户中产生大量销售。我们的目标是在8个月内开发出这两款产品，并整合实时图像处理模块的修订版，准备一份白色文件，展示我们设备的性能和应用，并发表文章通知潜在客户。这笔资金还将为我们提供资源，开始开发该技术的进一步应用，使我们能够创建产品组合。这项建议的成功将支持参与原始工作的研究助理，而不会损失专门知识，从而能够最有效地将技术从研究和开发转移到商业竞技场。

The ability to characterise intense beams of photons, X-rays and particles fully transparent and in situ with supremely high precision opens up new directions in fundamental and applied sciences. Whether this is for the characterisation of nano-metre sized structures, to allow dynamic laser spot focusing at various depths of the material whilst cutting or to control the delivery and dose of a X-ray or particle beam during radiation therapy, the new technology excels in providing real-time measurements and outputs that can be used to apply fast corrections of beam shape, position and intensity. At the University of Manchester, a novel way to image intense beams fully transparent with high spatial resolution and a high update rate has been invented. The development has been driven by the needs of the current and future facility and end-user requirements in close collaboration with a couple of facility groups operating at the cutting edge of technology. The technology has been undergoing trials in close collaboration with selected users and has proven to be highly successful to the point that users want to buy and use this innovative technology. This interest, in turn, has led to a protection of the underlying method supported actively and financially by our technology transfer office (UMIP Ltd.) after an in depth evaluation of the commercial potential of the invention. Through meetings with potential license holders we have identified a preferred commercial partner that wants to introduce the technology commercially in 2010. They have helped us to define a strategy to go to market with our technology. This strategy calls for the development of two types of products that they want to introduce to the market. Their interest is understandable: if one considers the high quality of the produced technology demonstrators that is backed up by impressive evaluation results collected with collaborating users. But above all, the technology provides truly new diagnostics capabilities. For example, the ability to measure the cross-sectional intensity distribution (imaging) of the beam is unique and not available anywhere else. Also, the real-time image processing system that, through massive parallel processing, is able to extract essential data (integrated intensity, centre position and beam size) fast, removes the requirement of high-speed interfaces and off-line processing. A similar system is currently not available anywhere else on the market. Market research, from speaking directly to end users and potential licensees, shows that sales of the technology would be able to generate a significant volume of sales with both existing and new customers. It is our aim to create these two products within an 8-month period and to integrate a revised version of our real-time image processing module, to prepare a white paper which shows the performance and applications of our devices and to publish articles to inform potential customers. The funding would also give us resources to start developing further applications of the technology allowing us to create a product portfolio. Success of this proposal would support the research associate involved in the original work without loss of expertise, allowing the most efficient transfer of the technology from research and development to the commercial arena.