External beam therapy using very high energy electrons generated by laser-plasma wake-field accelerators

外照射是肿瘤治疗中最重要的手段之一。光子和电离粒子束被用来治疗身体不同部位的各种癌症。设计一种外部束流模式需要研究束源传输的辐射场和剂量分布。所应用的辐射应该最大限度地增加对癌症组织的损害，从而将对健康组织的损害保持在最低限度。任何模式都必须满足临床质量标准，并应与现代医院的空间和资金限制相匹配。我们打算研究在激光-等离子体尾迹场加速器中产生的高能电子束在癌症放射治疗领域的应用。激光等离子体尾迹场加速器是一种颠覆性但紧凑的技术，提供能量为数百MeV的电子束，具有优异的束流质量和高效率。紧凑的设计和高效率是癌症治疗中心广泛安装的吸引人的特征，甚至在较小的医院也是如此。我们建议研究该装置所产生的辐射场和剂量分布。这些结果将用于放射治疗与常规方法的比较研究。早期迹象和文献调查表明，与传统的高能光子束相比，高能电子束提供了更好的剂量传输特性，同时比基于质子或重离子的机器更具成本效益。激光等离子体尾迹场加速器产生的高电荷态、极短的电子束会产生额外的效应。

Radiotherapy using external beams is one of the most important modalities in cancer treatment. Photon and ionising particle beams are used to treat a wide variety of cancers in different parts of the body. Devising an external beam modality requires to investigate the radiation field and dose distribution delivered by the beam source. The radiation applied should maximise the damage to cancerous tissue which keeping damage to healthy tissue to a minimum. Any modality has to satisfy clinical quality standards and should match the spatial and monetary constraints of modern hospitals. We propose to investigate the application of high energy electron beams generated in a laser-plasma wake-field accelerator to the field of cancer radiotherapy. Laser-plasma wake-field accelerators are a disruptive, yet compact technology providing electron beam of several hundred MeV in energy with excellent beam qualities and high efficiency. The compact design and high efficiency are attractive features for a widespread installation in cancer therapy centres, even at smaller hospitals. We propose to study the radiation field and dose distribution delivered by this facility. These results will feed into a comparative study of radiotherapy with conventional methods. Early indications and a literature survey suggest, that high energy electron beams provide superior dose delivery characteristics compared to conventional high energy photon beams, while being more cost effective than proton- or heavy ion based machines. Additional effects can be expected from the highly charged, very short electron bunches delivered by laser-plasma wake-field accelerators.