The 3rd ELIMED Workshop MEDical and multidisciplinary applications of laser-driven ion beams at ELI-Beamlines

7 Sept 2016, 08:00 → 10 Sept 2016, 18:30 Europe/Rome

Conference Hall (Laboratori Nazionali del Sud of INFN)

The ELIMED project aims to demonstrate the validity of new approaches based on laser- driven ion sources for potential future applications in medical and other multidisciplinary fields, including hadrontherapy. In 2018, a User-oriented beam-line, ELIMAIA (ELI Multidisciplinary Applications of laser-Ion Acceleration) equipped with diagnostics and dosimetry end-points will be commissioned at the ELI-Beamlines facility in the Czech Republic with the main goal to perform proof-of-principle experiments, dosimetry measurements and radiation biology investigations at high repetition rate. The main goal of the 3rd ELIMED workshop is to strengthen the collaboration among the international research groups involved in this challenging project and gather new ideas, proposals and additional requirements from a broad community of users coming from different fields (Physics, Biology, Medicine, Chemistry, Material Science, etc.) interested in exploiting the availability of non-conventional (laser-driven) ion beams at ELI-Beamlines.

The main topics are:

• Non-conventional Ion Acceleration Techniques

• New generation Ion Acceleration Beam-lines

• Radiation Biology and Medical Applications

• Multidisciplinary Applications

• Targetry, Diagnostics and Dosimetry

Poster elimed_catania_first_ann_12_04.pdf

Wednesday, 7 September

08:30 → 09:00 Registration

09:00 → 10:05 Opening and Introduction

09:00 Info and communications

09:15 Opening

Speakers: Dr George Korn (ELI-Beamlines), Giacomo Cuttone (LNS)

09:35 ELIMAIA/ELIMED

Speakers: Dr Daniele Margarone (ELI-Beamlines), Giuseppe Cirrone (LNS)

Slides Cirrone_Final.key Margarone_ELIMED_2016.pdf

10:05 → 10:45 Non-conventional Ion Acceleration Techniques

Convener: Dr Georg Korn (x)

10:05 Towards viable Laser-driven ION (LION) sources for applications – LION at the Center for Advanced Laser Applications (CALA)

One of the most intriguing features of laser-driven ion sources is their potentially short duration and micrometer small source size (low longitudinal and transverse emittance), which is a direct consequence of the highly intense laser pulses at play. My talk will impart the most relevant underlying principles of laser ion acceleration, supported by recent examples demonstrating this potential for applications. In particular, I will highlight (overdue) technological advances which we pursue at the chair for medical physics of the Ludwig-Maximillians-University Munich. Those developments will facilitate a solid basis for our research targeted in the Centre for Advanced Laser Applications (CALA) at the research campus in Garching b. München, which amongst other intriguing equipment, will host a 3 PW-laser system operated at 1Hz repetition rate.

Speakers: Dr Daniel Haffa (LMU Munich), Prof. Jörg Schreiber (LMU Munich)

Slides Haffa_3rdELimedTalk_final2.pptx

10:45 → 11:05 Coffee Break

10:45 → 11:05 Poster Session

Permanent Poster session

10:45 Faraday Cup: absolute dosimetry for ELIMED beam line

In the last years, the scientific community has shown a growing interest towards new acceleration techniques based on interaction of ultra-intense and ultra-short laser with solid target. Laser-driven approach in acceleration, potentially represents an exciting alternative to the conventional techniques and many researchers are investigating their possible use for multidisciplinary applications [1]. In this framework, the ELIMED (ELI-Beamlines MEDical and multidisciplinary applications) beam line , which will be installed inside the ELIMAIA experimental hall of the ELI-Beamlines facility (Dolny Brezany, CZ), has the aim to demonstrate the possibility to use laser-driven ion beams for medical applications [2, 3]. Detectors for dosimetry represent, of course, one of key-element of the ELIMED beamline and they have to permit a dose delivering with an accuracy as close as possible to the one required in the clinical applications [4]. Absolute dosimetry will be performed using a Faraday Cup, able to collect and counts the charged particles entering in the detector. It has been realized with a peculiar geometry able to optimize the charge collection efficiency and reduce the uncertainties related to the secondary electron emission. It is composed, in fact, by an internal conventional guard electrode for the charge collection maximization and a second beveled-shaped electrode, coaxial to the first one, and able to generate a special-shaped electric field [5] . The developed Faraday Cup has been tested with conventional proton beams at CATANA facility (INFN-LNS), and the results will be compared with the ones obtained with the SIMION software. Moreover, preliminary experimental tests have been recently performed with laser-driven ion beams at RAL facility (UK ), using the Petawatt Vulcan laser and at the LOA facility in Paris (France). REFERENCES [1] A. Macchi.; M. Borghesi; M. Passoni, Ion acceleration by superintense laser plasma interaction. Rev.Mod. Phys. 2013, 85, doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.85.751. [2] D. Margarone, G.A.P. Cirrone, G. Cuttone, G. Korn, AIP Conference Proceedings 1546 (2013)1. [3] G.A.P. Cirrone, G. Cuttone, F. Romano, F. Schillaci, V. Scuderi, A. Amato, G.Candiano, M. Costa, G. Gallo, G. Larosa, G. Korn, R. Leanza, et al.,Applied Sciences 5 (2016), in-press. doi:10.3390/app50x000x. [4] F. Romano et al., The ELIMED transport and dosimetry beamline for laser-driven ion beams, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 829(2016)153–158 [5] G.A.P. Cirrone, F. Romano, V. Scuderi, A. Amato, G. Candiano,G. Cuttone, D.Giove, G. Korn, J. Krasa, R. Leanza et al., Nuclear Instruments and Methods inPhysics Research (2016), in press. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2015.02.019.

Speaker: Renata Leanza (LNS)

10:45 First results by nanosecond laser irradiation of different NANOSTRUCTURED targets

An experimental campaign aiming to investigate the effects of innovative nanostructured targets based on Ag, Ni, Fe, Co nanowires on laser energy absorption in the ns time domain has been carried out at the LENS (Laser Energy for Nuclear Science) laboratory of INFN­LNS, Catania. Nanowires structures are tuned to increase the light absorption in the visible and infrared range due to plasmonic excitation driven by the incoming photons. Different techniques permit to monitor the plasma and to determine its reproducibility. Targets were then irradiated by Nd:YAG 2J, 6 ns infrared laser (l=1064 nm) at different pumping energies. Some preliminary results will be illustrated.

Speaker: Annamaria Muoio (LNS)

10:45 Innovative dosimetry systems for high dose-rate per pulse laser-driven ion beams in the ELIMED beam line

The growing interest towards multidisciplinary applications of laser-driven beams, has led to the development of the ELIMED (ELI-Beamlines MEDical and multidisciplinary applications) beamline, by INFN-LNS. ELIMED will be installed at the ELI-Beamlines facility in Prague. Laser-accelerated particles, differ from the conventional beams for the wide energy spread, the angular divergence, the intense pulses and particularly for the high dose-rate per pulse [1,2]. This last peculiarity implies to study and develop alternative dose-rate independent detectors for both relative and absolute dosimetry measurements. At this aim, the dosimetric system will consist of a Faraday Cup dedicated to the absolute dose measurement and of a secondary emission monitor (SEM) and a innovative multi-gap in-transmission ionization chamber (IC) for relative dosimetry. The IC is composed by two different gaps of increasing thickness, in order to correct for the recombination effects due to the extremely high dose rate per pulse. Fixing the voltage and the distance between the electrodes, the ratio of the currents in the different gaps only depend on the ionization charge density. Therefore, it is possible to determine shot by shot the collection efficiency of a gap thanks to the measurement of the efficiency ratio of the different gaps [3]. In this contribution, this new detector for relative dose measurements will be presented. REFERENCE [1] A. Macchi., M. Borghesi, M. Passoni, et al. Ion acceleration by superintense laser plasma interaction. Rev.Mod. Phys. 2013, 85, doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.85.751. [2] D. Margarone, G.A.P. Cirrone, G. Cuttone, G. Korn,et al. AIP Conference Proceedings 1546 (2013). [3] F. Romano, F. Schillaci, G. A. P. Cirrone, G. Cuttone, V. Scuderi, L. Allegra, A. Amato, A. Amico, et al. The ELIMED transport and dosimetry beamline for laser-driver ion beams. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in physics research A. Elsevier. Volume 829, 1 September 2016, Pages 153–158.

Speaker: Mr ANTONIO GIUSEPPE AMICO (Università degli studi di Catania)

10:45 Intra-operative radiation therapy with laser-accelerated carbon ions

Laser accelerators have long been proposed as beam source for hadron therapy. However, the high particle energies required for the treatment of deep-lying tumours, combined with stringent requirements on the beam quality, are still a severe challenge. In the present work, we discuss the applicability of laser-accelerated carbon ions at modelate energies to the irradiation of superficial lesions, a new therapeutic modality which combines the versatility of Intra-Operative Radiation Therapy (IORT) with the advantages of carbon ions as compared to photon and electron radiation. To justify this idea a feasibility study has been done, which is focused on the uniformity of the dose deposition in depth and the physical (LET) and biological (RBE, OER) characteristic aspects of the carbon ion source. For superficial radiation treatment a maximum penetration depth of 5 mm is required, which implies an energy rate of 10 Hz for typical IORT treatment is needed. With those specifications a GATE simulation has been performed, showing an approximately uniform depth-dose profile, maintaining a radiation boost of 10 Gy.

Speaker: Ms Paula Mur (Institute for Instrumentation in Molecular Imaging (I3M))

10:45 Investigation of the effect of titanium dental implants on proton therapy delivered for head tumors: experimental validation using an anthropomorphic head phantom

To investigate the effects of metallic dental implants in the treatment of head and neck tumors with proton therapy we performed 2 experiments at the Medico-Technical Complex, JINR, Dubna. The goal of this study was to evaluate the 2 dimensional dose distribution of different, clinically treatment plans measured in an anthropomorphic phantom and compare it to treatment planing predictions. The anthropomorphic phantom manufactured by Alderson was sliced into horizontal segments. Two Titanium grade 4 implants were implanted between 2 slices. GafChromic EBT 2 films were laid between the segments which contain the implants to measure the 2D delivered dose. There were designed two different targets: the first target includes the 2 dental implants near isocenter and for the second target the proton beam is delivered through implants, those being in the plateau region of the Bragg curve. The experimental results were compared with the treatment plans made in our in-house made 3D Treatment Planning System based on pencil beam algorithm. To quantitatively determine differences in the isodose distributions (measured and calculated), the gamma index (3mm, 3%) was calculated for each target for the matrix value in the region of high isodose (>90%): for the first target we obtained 84.3% and for the second target 86.4%. In conclusion, the uncertainties introduced by the clinically planned dose distribution are beyond reasonable limits. The microdosimetry information (absorbed dose and linear energy transfer spectra) in close proximity of the implants was investigated using solid state nuclear track detectors.

Speaker: Cristina Oancea (FF-UB, IFIN-HH, JINR)

10:45 Isochoric heating of solid gold targets with the PW-laser-driven ion beams

We present an end-to-end simulation for isochoric heating of solid gold targets using ion beams produced with the BELLA PW laser at LBNL: (i) 2D Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations are applied to study the ion source characteristics of the PW laser-target interaction at the long focal length (f/#65) beamline at laser intensities of ~〖5×10〗^19 Wcm-2 at spot size of 0=52 m on a CH target. (ii) In order to transport the ion beams to an EMP-free environment, an active plasma lens will be used. This was modeled [1] by calculating the Twiss parameters of the ion beam from the appropriate transport matrixes taking the source parameters obtained from the PIC simulation. Space charge effects were considered as well. (iii) Hydrodynamic simulations indicate that these ion beams can isochorically heat a 1 mm3 gold target to the Warm Dense Matter state.

Speaker: Dr Sven Steinke (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

10:45 Optics study and characterization of the ELIMED permanent magnet quadrupole system prototypes

A system of Permanent Magnet Quadrupoles (PMQs) has been realized by INFN-LNS researchers, in collaboration with SIGMAPHI company in France, to be used as a collection and pre-selection system for laser driven proton beams. In order to validate the design and the performances of this large bore, compact, high gradient magnetic system prototype an experimental campaign have been carried out, in collaboration with the group of the SAPHIR experimental facility at LOA (Laboratoire d’Optique Appliquée) in Paris using a 200 TW Ti:Sapphire laser system. During this campaign a deep study of the quadrupole system optics has been performed, comparing the results with the simulation codes used to determine the setup of the PMQ system and to track protons with realistic TNSA-like divergence and spectrum. Experimental and simulation results are in good agreement, demonstrating the possibility to have a good control on the magnet optics and, at the same time, improving the beam quality and fluence. This system is meant to be a prototype to a more performing one to be installed at ELI-Beamlines for the collection of ions.

Speaker: Antonio Russo (INFN-LNS)

10:45 Overview on the target fabrication facilities at ELI-NP and the ongoing strategies.

Along with the development of petawatt class laser systems, the interaction between high power lasers and matter flourished an extensive research, with high-interest applications like: laser nuclear physics, proton radiography or cancer therapy. The new ELI-NP petawatt laser facility, with 10PW and ~10 23W/cm2 intensity, is one of the innovative projects that will provide novel research of fundamental processes during light-matter interaction(1). As part of the ELI-NP facility, Target Laboratory will provide the means for the in-house manufacturing (using UHV deposition system, RIE, optical lithography) and characterization (XRD, AFM, SEM, EDS etc.) of the required targets for the experiments, in addition to the research activity carried out in order to develop novel target designs for improved performances. Recent advances showed that maximum proton energy can be significantly improved through target design optimization: using micro-structured front side surface(2) (nanospheres, nanowires, gratings), more complex target shapes(3) or by using a near-critical plasma layer on the irradiated side of the target(4). In the latter case, it was observed that the strongest self-focusing of the laser pulse occurs in near-critical density regime and the absorption takes place within the entire plasma volume. Carbonaceous nanostructured materials, like carbon nanotubes foam (CNF), are an adequate solution due to their low-density (< 10mg/cm3), but they have hardly been explored so far in a target assembly(5). In view of the latest progress, one of the proposed strategies is to use DLC (diamond-like carbon) as an ultra-thin foil, coated with VCNTF (vertically aligned carbon nanotubes foam) as low-density nanostructured layer. The carbon foam which behaves as a near-critical density plasma, absorb the prepulse and allow the controlled-shaping of the laser pulse, which undergoes relativistic self-focusing and temporal and spatial profile modulation. High-quality homogeneous CNT foam can be prepared, by enhanced plasma chemical vapor deposition technique, with a controlled thickness depending on the deposition time, and specific average density according to the feeding rate of catalyst and carbon source gas. As previously showed(6) CNT enhance the energy conversion (laser-energetic electrons) even if the spacing between the tubes is smaller than the laser wavelength, and despite the enhanced laser absorption, a smaller plasma expansion is observed on the CNT-target surface compared with a foil target. (1) N.V. Zamfir, Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 223, 1221 (2014) (2) D. Margarone et al., Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 18, 071304 (2015); S. Jiang et al., Phys. Rev. E 89, 013106 (2014); T. Palchan et al., App. Phys. Lett. 90, 041501 (2007); S. Jiang et al., PRL 116, 085002 (2016) (3) S. A. Gaillard et al., Phys. Plasmas 18, 056710 (2011); K. A. Flippo et al., Phys. Plasmas 15, 056709 (2008) (4) T. Nakamura et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 113107 (2010); A. Sgattoni et al., Phys. Rev. E 85, 036405 (2012) (5) I. Prencipe et al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 58 (2016) 034019; J. H. Bin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 064801 (2015) (6) H. Habara et al., Phys. Plasmas 23, 063105 (2016).

Speaker: Ms Constanta Cristina Gheorghiu (ELI-NP)

10:45 Real Time Transverse Profile Characterization of a Laser-Driven Accelerated Proton Beam

In order to develop a diagnostic tool for charged particles (mainly protons) produced in laser-driven acceleration experiments, a commercial CMOS imager, the Rad-Eye by Teledyne, has been characterized. The main parameters affecting the response of the imager to visible light like thermal generation (leakage), reading noise, linearity and dynamic range have been addressed. A series of measurements with Alfa particles of different energy allowed to study the response of the imager to charged particles. Results can be reproduced by a simple model of the device charge collection that has to take into account charge diffusion from the bulk. The model can thus supply the response to monoenergetic light particles as required by the diagnostic tool. Tests on proton beams will be presented and discussed.

Speaker: Dario Augusto Giove (MI)

10:45 Study of gamma-ray emission by proton beam interaction with injected Boron atoms for future medical imaging applications

Recently, a method based on the possibility to inducing an enhancement of the biological efficacy of proton therapy by using of Boron atoms localized inside a tumor mass, has been proposed [1, 2]. Specifically, the aim of this approach is exploit the well-known 11B(p,a)2a nuclear reaction channel where three alpha particles, with an average energy around 3.5 MeV, are emitted [3]. These alphas show a sufficient range (around 20 um in water) so that they can release most of their energy in the cell nucleus and high-LET values, able to strongly damage the DNA, producing an enhancement of the biological efficacy of the proton beam. In addition, various proton-boron nuclear reactions induce the emission of several prompt gamma-rays with different energies [2]. The measurement of the produced gammas, if sufficiently intense as respect the background produced from the proton-nuclear reactions with the biological tissue [4], can potentially represent a powerful on-line proton beam imaging technique. The Boron therapeutic role as well as this new imaging technique could have potentially applications with treatment based on the using of conventional proton beam and laser driven proton beam. In this work a theoretical and experimental study of the gamma prompt emissions from the proton boron nuclear reaction has been carried out with the main aim to understand and quantify the most probable gamma prompt emitted in the proton-Boron reactions with respect to the background. References 1. D.-K. Yoon et al, “Application of proton boron fusion reaction to radiation therapy: A Monte Carlo simulation study”, Applied Physics Letters 105, 223507 (2014); doi: 10.1063/1.4903345 2. L. Giuffrida, D. Margarone, G.A.P. Cirrone, A. Picciotto, AIP Advances 2016 (submitted) 3. H.W. Becker et al, “Low-Energy Cross Sections for 11B(p, 3a)*”, Z. Phys. A - Atomic Nuclei 327, 341- 355 (1987) 4. J. M. Verburg et al,”Simulation of prompt gamma-ray emission during proton radiotherapy”, Phys. Med. Biol. 57 (2012) 5459–5472 doi:10.1088/0031-9155/57/17/5459

Speaker: Dr Giada Petringa (LNS-INFN)

10:45 TOF technique for laser-driven proton beam diagnostics for the ELIMED beamline

Due to the non-conventional features of laser accelerated ion beams, the development of innovative diagnostics instrumentation is a key requirement to deliver suitable beams for different kind of multidisciplinary applications. Thanks to the high radiation hardness, signal to noise-ratio and time resolution, diamond detectors, used in Time of Flight (TOF) configuration, have been chosen for energy spectrum and fluence measurement along the ELIMED transport beam line which will be realized by LNS-INFN and installed in 2017 at ELIBeamlines facility (CZ). The detectors have been already tested with laser-driven proton beams during many experimental campaigns, carried out with different kinds of lasers and target configurations. For high-energy particle beams, the reconstruction of the correct impinging particle energy and the consequent extraction of proton fluence is crucial, and a dedicated study has been devoted to this purpose. The critical points in the analysis procedure used to disentangle the laser-accelerated protons from the ion contribution and reconstruct the correspondent energy spectrum and fluence, in the different experimental campaigns will be presented in details.

Speaker: Giuliana Giuseppina Milluzzo (LNS)

11:05 → 12:55 Non-conventional Ion Acceleration Techniques

Convener: Dr Georg Korn (x)

11:05 All-optical hadrontherapy

The laser driven ion acceleration is considered a promising candidate for an ion source for hadron therapy. The reduced cost and size, as well as the intrinsic flexibility of laser ion accelerators compared to the conventional ones can increase the availability of the ion beams and provide particle therapy to a broader range of patients. I will review and discuss different schemes of laser ion acceleration in connection to the development of the ion beam source for hadron therapy.

Speaker: Dr Stepan Bulanov (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Slides All-optical_hadrontherapy_v1.pdf

11:45 Proton beam optimization by innovative target schemes

All-optical approaches to particle acceleration are currently attracting a significant research effort internationally. A recently developed concept of a versatile, miniature linear accelerating module to achieve simultaneous focusing, energy selection and post-acceleration of the proton beams will be discussed. In a proof-of-principle experiment on a 200 TW university-scale laser, we demonstrated post-acceleration of ~10^8 protons by ~5 MeV over less than a cm of propagation – i.e. an accelerating gradient of ~ 0.5 GeV/m, already beyond what can be sustained by conventional accelerator technologies, with dynamic beam collimation and energy selection. Employing this technique recently at the Vulcan Petawatt, UK and Titan laser, LLNL, USA, produced narrow band pencil beams of up to 50 MeV, where preliminary analysis indicates a fast scaling of the post-acceleration gradient with laser power. Due to the possibility of deploying this modular device in a multi-stage scenario, these results open up new opportunities for the development of extremely compact and cost-effective ion accelerators for both established and innovative applications.

Speaker: Dr S. Kar (QUB)

12:10 Radiation Pressure Acceleration: Perspectives and Limits

The "light sail" (LS) concept, i.e. the radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) of ultrathin targets was recently in press highlights because of the "breakthrough starshot" proposal for sending space probes beyond the solar system, thanks to the high acceleration efficiency. Scaled down to femtosecond lasers with petawatt power, amongst the different mechanisms for laser-plasma based ion acceleration [1] RPA-LS theoretically has the most favorable scaling with laser parameters, so that energies per nucleon exceeding 100 MeV are within reach using present-day lasers. In optimal conditions such high-energy ions would be produced as high-density, charge neutralized bunches with narrow energy spectra, fulfilling Veksler's "coherent acceleration" paradigm. However, so far experiments have provided at best preliminary evidence of the onset of the light sail regime, making several issues apparent such as target stability and the onset of "relativistic" transparency. In this talk we b! riefly review the RPA light sail concept (going beyond the simple "moving mirror" picture [2], report and comment on recent experimental results and discuss expectations based on large scale simulations [3]. [1] A. Macchi, M. Borghesi, M. Passoni, "Ion acceleration by superintense laser-plasma interaction", Rev. Mod. Phys. 85 (2013) 751; M. Borghesi and A. Macchi, " Laser-Driven Ion Accelerators: State of the Art and Applications", in: Laser-Driven Particle Acceleration Towards Radiobiology and Medicine (Springer, 2016). [2] A. Macchi, S. Veghini, F. Pegoraro, "Light Sail Acceleration Reexamined", Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 (2009) 085003; A. Macchi, "Theory of Light Sail Acceleration by Intense Lasers: an Overview", High Power Laser Science and Engineering 2 (2014) e10. [3] A. Sgattoni, S. Sinigardi, A. Macchi, "High Energy Gain in Three-Dimensional Simulations of Light Sail Acceleration", Appl. Phys. Lett. 105 (2014) 084105; A. Sgattoni, S. Sinigardi, L. Fedeli, F. Pegoraro, A. Macchi, "Laser-Driven Rayleigh-Taylor Instability: Plasmonic Effects and Three-Dimensional Structures", Phys. Rev. E 91 (2015) 013106.

Speaker: Dr Andrea Macchi (CNR, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, u.o.s Adriano Gozzini, Pisa, Italy)

Slides talk_ELIMED16_RPA.pdf

12:35 High Intensity Laser Interaction Studies at BELLA

High intensity laser interaction studies with the BELLA laser at LBNL are summarized. The BELLA laser is a state-of-the-art Ti:sapphire laser system that delivers ~1 PW (40 J in 35 fs) laser pulses at 1 Hz. The BELLA laser has been used primarily for electron acceleration experiments in underdense plasma using a long focal length beamline that delivers laser pulses with a spot size of 53 micron and an intensity of several ~10^19 W/cm2. With the addition of a short focal length beamline and double-plasma mirror technology, BELLA can deliver tightly focused pulses with intensities up to 10^22 W/cm2, allowing a wide range of studies in high energy density science. These studies include novel processes in nonlinear QED, x-ray generation using flying mirrors, and laser-ion acceleration. Several ion acceleration mechanisms will be discussed as well as limits to the maximum ion energies, required targetry and diagnostics in order to utilize the capabilities of PW laser operation (and ion beam generation) at 1Hz.

Speaker: Dr Sven Steinke (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Slides 20160907_ELIMED_BELLAi_steinke01_print.pdf

12:55 → 14:15 Lunch

12:55 → 14:15 Poster Session

Permanent Poster session

14:15 → 16:30 New generation Ion Acceleration Beamlines: I

Convener: Dr Stepan Bulanov (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

14:15 Ion Transport Beamlines for Laser Plasma Accelerators

Theoretical and multidimensional computer simulations have shown that several hundred MeV or even GeV ions can be expected from the interaction between petawatt-level laser pulses with different targets. High ion energies, together with beamlines to achieve low energy spread with high controllability and stability can form the core of a new generation of ion accelerators. Such a high performance laser-driven ion beam system has numerous potential applications such as injectors for conventional accelerators, radiation therapy, as well as high energy density laboratory physics and material science studies. Ion beamlines using pulsed solenoids, magnetic quadrupoles, and RF cavities to collect, transport and shape the ion beams produced by the laser-driven ion sources will be reviewed. Alternating-gradient canted cosine theta (AGCCT) superconducting magnets are being developed at LBNL for future compact proton gantries. A compact beam transport and energy selection system using active plasma lens and AGCCT magnets to transport and select ions produced from laser-driven ion sources will also be presented. This work was supported by Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) funding from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, provided by the Director, Office of Science, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Speaker: Dr Qing Ji (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Slides EliMED_workshop_09072016_-QJ.pdf

14:55 Review on new generation of conventional accelerators for medical applications

Speaker: Giacomo Cuttone (LNS)

15:35 Current trends in beamlines from a maker's prospective - Example of the Acculinna-2 RI separator

Speaker: Dr W. Beeckman (SigmaPhi)

Slides EULIMED_talk_sept_2016Wbeeckman.pptx

16:05 The PTC in Prague and R&D perspectives

Radiotherapy is one of three main approaches for cancer treatment. First application of ionization radiation in human medicine was done before almost 110 years. Since that time different types of particles were used for treatment. Even though most of the time photon radiation was used other particles have also very suitable properties for treatment. From very beginning radioactive isotopes were used as a source of radiation for therapy, later first accelerator – x-ray tube – was used as source of photons. But energies of such produced photon were quite low and with unfavorable mechanism of energy transfer from particle to tissue so those sources were quite unsuitable for treatment of deeply seated tumor. In fifties of twentieth century large development was done in reaching of higher energies, accelerators were started to being built. Basically at the same time accelerators for electrons and for heavier particles were introduced, it was in the middle of fifties. At the same time their exploitation for medical purposes was suggested. Due to more simple and cheaper design electron accelerators (which producing both electron and brehmsstralung radiation) started to dominate and accelerators for heavier particles were inaccessible from the clinical point of view. Nowadays situation is changing. Because of modern computers and material technology advances, particle accelerators are starting to be very good option for more and more clinical sites. The most pronounced particle for treating patients in future is proton. There are several reasons for this like its accessibility, depth dose distribution properties (Bragg peak shape of depth dose curve), no fragmentation of projectile particles, RBE close to photons so only slight adaptation of treatment protocols is needed. Proton has also favorable ratio of mass and charge, so relatively compact accelerators may be built. Construction works at Prague started in the beginning of 2009 close to hospital Na Bulovce. The goal of the project was to create top technology radiotherapy center for treating with proton beam. Accelerator was placed into the building in autumn 2011 and first patient was treated in December 2012. From very beginning PTC decided to work with pencil beam scanning dose delivery system. It was recognized as best solution from several points of view – treatment delivery is fast, no patient specific hardware is needed, adaptive treatment approach is more feasible and number of treated patients can be higher. Even that PTC facility was built for treatment already in the early stage of construction the though of using proton beam also for research was introduced and site plan was changed accordingly. In the plans PTC included room which is somehow separated away from ordinary clinical work, with separate control room. Right now PTC reached its full patient load, patient treatment is running for 12 hours a day, so next step is to put into live also research part of the center. Above mentioned does not mean, that no research is done in PTC facility. At the very beginning, colleagues from NPL provided dose measurement which resulted in publication in Medical Physics ("Experimental and Monte Carlo studies of fluence corrections for graphite calorimetry in low- and high-energy clinical proton beams”, main author Ana Lourenco). Also neutron dosimetry and angular distribution of neutrons was examined and results were also published in Radiation Protection and Dosimetry journal (“Angular distribution of neutron spectral fluence around phantom irradiated with high energy protons“, main author Zdenek Vykydal). In PC we actively collaborate with radiobiology group in Department of Dosimetry of Czech Academy of Science, providing irradiation of different cell lines in order to estimate RBE in proton pencil beam radiotherapy. PTC also closely collaborates with Depatment of Dosimetry and Application of Ionisation Radiation at Czech Technical university. Students of medical physics are working on their master or PhD thesis in PTC. Above mentioned experiments were integrated into patient flow in time when there was ramp up period of number of daily treatments. Preparation of experimental equipment in patient treatment rooms is time demanding and for more time consuming experiments on the edge of possible. The perspective of PTC in the field of research and development is to find a partner with strong scientific background and create long-term partnership for scientific collaboration. For this purpose PTC can offer very well defined and stable beam of protons with energies up to 235 MeV and beam currents up to 300 nA. This beam may be modified by equipment installed in the experimental room according to agreed purpose. PTC may also offer experienced staff in proton dose measurement and with excellent knowledge of medical physics topics – from treatment planning to treatment delivery and clinical dosimetry.

Speaker: Dr V. Vondracek (PTC)

16:30 → 16:50 Coffee Break

16:30 → 16:50 Poster Session

Permanent Poster session

16:50 → 19:00 New generation Ion Acceleration Beamlines: II

Convener: Giacomo Cuttone (LNS)

16:50 A laser-based hadrontherapy facility: current status at HZDR

Laser based ion acceleration has the potential to serve as a more flexible solution as compared to conventional ion beam therapies. In order to explore these potentials, several groups from physics, biology and medicine have joint forces in Dresden. This talk will give an overview over the activities focusing especially on the proton source and the beam transport. The Dresden Ti:Sapph laser system Draco was upgraded to 500TW in order to produce higher energies and starts operation with full power this summer. Additionally, new target types such as solid hydrogen and liquid crystals where tested. For beam transport novel techniques with pulsed power magnets producing field of up to 20 Tesla are implemented.

Speaker: Dr S. Kraft (HZDR)

17:15 Status of the new Line for Laser-driven Light Ions Acceleration (L3IA) at ILIL and related TNSA studies

D. Giove1,* and L.A.Gizzi2,3,* 1Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Milano, Italy 2Intense Laser Irradiation Laboratory (ILIL), Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, CNR, Pisa, Italy 3Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Pisa, Italy A new laser-driven ion acceleration line is being developed at the Intense Laser Irradiation Laboratory, in the framework of the ILIL-PW installation upgrade which includes a 7J power amplifier, a new vacuum compressor and a remotely controlled vacuum beam transport line into a new, shielded target area. The new octagonal target chamber will host a dedicated line to deliver light ions accelerated by target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) driven by laser irradiation of thin foils at an intensity exceeding 1020 W/cm2. Current design of the TNSA configuration, including laser pulse and target specifications, is based upon the particle in cell modelling carried out using the Aladyn code and validated by an on-going experimental campaign carried out using current laser performance featuring 10 TW on target in a <40 fs laser pulse. A set of diagnostics of laser-plasma interaction and ion acceleration is also being developed to establish online optimization tools for the acceleration line. An overview will be given on the status of the ILIL-PW upgrade, the current experiments and the planned activity within the L3IA endeavour.

Speaker: Dr Luca Labate (Istituto Nazionale di Ottica - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche)

Slides ELIMEDworkshop_Labate_1.pdf

17:40 Design of the ELIMED in-vacuum transport beam-line

Laser-target acceleration represents a very promising alternative to conventional accelerators for several potential applications, from the nuclear physics to the medical ones. However, some extreme features, not suitable for multidisciplinary applications, as the wide energy and angular spreads, characterize optically accelerated ion beams. Therefore, beyond the improvements at the laser-target interaction level, a lot of efforts have been recently devoted to the development of specific beam-transport devices in order to obtain controlled and reproducible output beams. In this framework, a three years contract has been signed between the INFN-LNS (IT) and Eli-Beamlines-IoP (CZ) to provide the design and the realization of a complete transport beam-line, named ELIMED, dedicated to the transport, diagnostics and dosimetry of laser-driven ion beams. The transport devices will be composed by a set of super-strong permanent magnet quadrupoles able to collect and focus laser driven ions up to 70MeV/u, and a magnetic chicane made of conventional electromagnetic dipoles to select particles within a narrow energy range. Here, the design and development of these magnetic systems is described.

Speaker: Francesco Schillaci (LNS)

Slides FS_ELIMED_092016_Finale.pdf

18:00 Radiation protection of a proton beamline at ELI Beamlines

ELI Beamlines is a new EU funded laser facility, located near Prague, Czech Republic. It will use laser-driven plasma sources to accelerate particles. It will host a dedicated proton beamline designed to reach energies up to 250 MeV. This beamline could be exploited to study possible future medical application of laser-driven beams. The first part of this paper introduces the beamline and the corresponding source terms. The complete set-up including the commissioned beam transport is briefly described. The second part of the paper details the evaluation of the ambient dose equivalent inside the experimental halls and the approaches to protect people (shielding, beam dump). The estimated ambient dose equivalent and technical aspects of radiation shielding that are particular to laser facilities are discussed further in the paper.

Speaker: Dr Sabrina Bechet (ELI-Beamlines)

Slides ELIMED2016_sabrina_bechet.pdf

18:20 The application of plasma lenses with laser accelerated ion beams

The first plasma (Gabor) lens prototype operating at high electron density was built by the Imperial College London in 2015. The lens was tested initially with a "conventional" 1 MeV proton beam at the Ion Beam Centre of the University of Surrey and will be tested next at the IC Cerberus laser facility. In this article we are going to explain in detail how a plasma (Gabor) lens works, what its performances are and which applications are possible in the context of ion laser-plasma acceleration. In particular, with three of such lenses it is possible to set-up an inline passive energy selection system and, with additional RF cavities, a beam line able to reduce the beam energy spread to below the 1% level without any additional losses.

Speaker: Dr Piero Antonio Posocco (Imperial College London)

18:40 Proton acceleration with a table-top TW laser

We report on the recent demonstration of proton acceleration from a tailor-made Ti:Sapphire laser system. In the first successful series of autumn 2015, running at 2 TW peak power and 100 Hz diode pump rate, protons up to 0.7 MeV have been spectrally characterised. Subsequently, at increased laser pulse energy and improved contrast, we have obtained maximum particle energies around 1.5 MeV. These results, achieved in single-shot mode with a variety of thin foil targets, are an important step towards our aim of a stable, compact proton accelerator with high rate capacity.

Speaker: Dr Michael Seimetz (I3M)

Slides Elimed2016_Seimetz_slides.pdf

Thursday, 8 September

09:00 → 10:50 Radiation Biology and Medical Applications: I

Convener: Dr Satyabrata Kar (Queen's University Belfast)

09:00 Laser-plasma accelerators and femtosecond photon sources based ultrafast radiation chemistry and biomedicine

It is generally admitted that an initial spatial distribution of energy deposition following the interaction of ionising radiations (UV and X rays, electron, proton and accelerated ions) with living matter (molecular targets or integrated biological systems) is decisive for the behaviour and control of radiation effects that take place on several orders of magnitude. The complex links that exist between the chemical physics of radiations and biomedical applications such as imaging and anticancer treatment (radio and chemo-radiotherapies) require the understanding of early events triggered by an initial energy deposition in confined sub-micrometric ionisation spaces (tracks). Recent advances of powerful TW laser sources (~10E19 W cm-2) and laser-plasma interactions providing ultra-short relativistic particle beams in the energy domain 5-200 MeV open exciting opportunities for the development of high energy radiation femtochemistry (HERF). Early radiation damages being dependent on the survival probability of secondary electrons and radial distribution of short-lived radicals inside ionization clusters, a thorough knowledge of these processes involves the real-time probing of primary events in the temporal range 10E-14 - 10E-11 s. In the framework of a closed synergy between low energy radiation femtochemistry (LERF) and the emerging domain of HERF, the lecture will focus on early phenomena that occur in the prethermal regime of low energy secondary electrons, considering very short-lived quantum effects in aqueous environments. A high dose rate delivered by femtosecond electron beam (~10E11-10E13 Gy s-1) can be used to investigate early radiation processes in native ionisation tracks, down to 10E-12 s and 10E-9 m. We will explain how this breakthrough favours the innovating development of real-time nanodosimetry in biologically relevant environments and open new perspectives for spatio-temporal radiation biomedicine. New developments would permit to correlate early radiation events triggered by ultrashort radiation sources with a molecular approach of Relative Biological Efficiency (RBE). The modulated response of biological endpoints, healthy cell survivals or carcinogenesis processes represents a real challenge to get the optimized control of ultra-high dose-rate effects, before the characterisation of clinical protocols devoted to pulsed radio-chemotherapy of cancers.

Speaker: Prof. Yann Gauduel (LOA Ecole Polytechnique - ENSTA)

09:40 Proton Beam for Radiation Therapy – Requirements, Dosimetry and Quality Control

In the last decade significant technological progress lead to the real boom in the proton therapy The major progress was observed in introduction of the active Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS) and construction of dedicated medical proton accelerators. The PBS technique allows to irradiate target volume spot-by-spot, without any mechanical collimation, leads to further reduction of the entrance doses and the unwanted scattered neutron component. Intensive research and development is oriented for decreasing the price of proton therapy by constructing the smaller, cheaper and energy efficient accelerators with integrated gantries, which can be installed also in the existing clinics. First prototypes of single-room superconducting synchrocyclotrons have been installed last year and applied for patient treatment (MEVION S250 and Proteus-One from IBA). However, the PBS technique is very demanding both for accelerator and medical physicists. The beam parameters, such as energy, current, spot symmetry must be well controlled and stable in time. Energy distribution in monoenergetic beam should be minimized in order to obtain a sharp distal fall-off of the dose distribution in the irradiated tissue. The decrease the lowest clinical proton energy from accelerator to about 20-30 MeV would eliminate the application of mechanical range shifters for irradiation of shallowly sitting tumors. Stability of proton energy available at the treatment unit must be controlled for reduction of range uncertainties. The scanning time should be minimized in order to allow for sequential irradiation of this same volume (repainting) to avoid cold and hot spots in moving targets. Since the local dose rate in the cyclotron PBS is about 3 orders of magnitude higher than in proton scattering techniques thus dosimetry must take it into account possible recombination effects in ionization chambers and saturation of response in solid state detectors. All beam parameters are submitted to regular, time consuming Quality Control using specialized equipment for 2-D dosimetry, range verification, spot position, symmetry etc. The future solutions must require more automated solutions to reduce the workload and to increase the patient throughput. All new technological solutions in delivery of proton therapy beams for clinical applications have to compete with the presently available systems.

Speaker: Prof. Pawel Olko (Institute of Nuclear Physics PAN)

Slides 2016_Catania_ELIMED_Olko__webpage_version.pdf

10:05 An Evaluation of the Various Aspects of the Progress in Clinical Applications of Laser Driven Ionizing Radiation

There has been a vast development of laser driven particle acceleration (LDPA) using high power lasers. This has driven by the radiation oncology community to use the dose distribution and biological advantages of proton/heavy ion therapy in cancer treatment with a much greater accessibilty than currently possible with cyclotron/synchrotron acceleration. Up to now, preclinical experiments have only been performed at a few LDPA facilities; technical solutions for clinical LDPA have been theoretically developed but there is still a long way to go for the clinical introduction of LDPA. Therefore, it is highly important to evaluate the alternative particle acceleration approaches and to explore the further potential bio-medical advantages of LDPA. The main characteristics of LDPA are the ultra-high beam intensity, the flexibility in beam size reduction and the potential particle and energy range selection whilst conventional accelerators generate single particle, quasi mono-energetic beams. There is a growing number of studies on the potential advantages and applications of Energy Modulated X-ray Radiotherapy (EMXRT) in the range of 2-10 MV with relative fast energy switching of the new generation linacs due to the lack of appropriate technology to modulate photon energy. Furthermore the ultrahigh space and/or time resolution of super-intense beams are under intensive investigation at synchrotrons with growing evidence of significant improvement of the therapeutic index. These promising, innovative approaches for cancer therapy present a huge challenges for dose calculation, dosimetry and for investigation of the biological effects. The biomedical application group at ELI-ALPS is preparing biological systems and endpoints (cell cultures, zebrafish embryos and small animals) for the comparison of the effect of LDPA with using conventional photon and electron beams techniques. Current model development for in vitro and in vivo preclinical research on both healthy tissues and diverse tumors will address the key biological questions concerning the LDPA with large variety of particles, energies and intensity. As well as secondary ionizing beams, tertiary particles (compton/thomson photons by electrons, neutrons by protons) could be generated which could be beneficial for special forms of radiotherapy. The planned LDPA (photons, very high energy electrons, protons, carbon ions) at ELI facilities have the unique property of ultra-high dose rate (>Gy/s^-10), short pulses, and at ELI-ALPS high repetition rate, have the potential to develop and establish encouraging novel methods working towards compact hospital-based clinical applications.

Speaker: Dr K. Hideghety (ELI-ALPS)

Slides 3rdELIMEDIC_Hideghety.pdf

10:30 Prospective on medical radioisotopes production at ELI-NP

Radioisotopes applications in nuclear medicine are in the field of both diagnosis (oncology, cardiology and neurology) and therapy (oncology). Molecular imaging probes, a special class of radiopharmaceuticals, targets specific biochemical signatures associated with disease and allow for non-invasive imaging on the molecular level. Because changes in biochemistry occur before diseases reach the advanced stage, molecular imaging probes make it possible to locate and stage disease, track the effectiveness of drug, treat disease, monitor response, and select patients to allow for more personalized diagnosis and treatment of disease. Based on the same biochemical processes, radionuclide systemic therapy is a powerful method to eradicate disseminated tumour cells and small metastases. Thus, to improve the differential diagnosis, prognosis, planning and monitoring of cancer treatment, new functional radiopharmaceuticals based on relevant bioactive molecules and promising medical radioisotopes have to be developed and evaluated. The potential interest of a given radio-isotope in medicine depends on a number of factors: the specific decay properties of the radio-isotope to be used; physical and biological half-life (which must be long enough to reach the target but short enough to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure); elemental/chemical properties (purification, post-processing and radiolabelling of bioactive molecules); pharmaceutical formulation constrains; and the ease of production (specific activity, cost effectiveness, availability). As one of the alternative route for production of emerging/promising radioisotopes for nuclear medicine, ELI-NP will employ (g, n) nuclear reaction to produce such radioisotopes, with relevant quantity and quality. Prospective radioisotopes to be produced by (g,n) reactions simulations of the target geometry and estimation of activity of some radioisotopes of interest for nuclear medicine will be presented.

Speaker: Dr Dana Niculae (IFIN-HH)

10:50 → 11:10 Coffee Break

10:50 → 11:10 Poster Session

Permanent Poster session

11:10 → 12:30 Radiation Biology and Medical Applications: II

Convener: Dr Stephan Kraft (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf)

11:10 The radiobiology of laser-driven particle beams: focus on sub-lethal responses of normal human cells

Proton-based radiotherapy has become an increasingly common cancer treatment modality. The clinical exploitation of accelerated protons relies on their superior ballistic properties compared to photons, which translates in advantageous dose distribution to tumor and sparing of normal tissue. The need for cost and size reduction of particle accelerating machines, which would arguably benefit protontherapy adoption on a larger scale, is driving interdisciplinary research efforts towards novel, compact, single-room accelerators. Optical ion acceleration based on laser-plasma interaction has opened new scenarios as a possible alternative to classic accelerators in the future. Particle beams produced by laser-matter interaction consist of extremely pulsed particle bursts of ultra-high dose rates (≥ 109 Gy/s), largely exceeding those currently used in conventional proton therapy. Since the biological effects of ionizing radiation are strongly affected by the spatio-temporal distribution of DNA-damaging events, the unprecedented physical features of such beams may well impact the cellular outcome and any clinical application of laser-generated particles must be therefore validated by careful assessment of their radiobiological effectiveness. To date, the majority of studies carried out in this new field have either used rodent cell lines or have focussed on cancer cell killing being local tumour control the main objective of any radiotherapy strategy. The results thus far obtained seem to indicate no significant difference between laser-driven and conventionally accelerated proton beams. However, very little or no data at all exist on (sub)-lethal cellular effects of relevance to normal tissue integrity such as cytogenetic damage and premature cellular senescence. We shall therefore briefly discuss their role in particle-based therapy and present preliminary data on survival and cellular senescence of normal human cells following exposure to a laser-driven proton beam.

Speaker: Lorenzo Manti (INFN Section of Naples)

Slides Manti__LNS_Elimed_workshop_2016.pptx

11:50 Laser-accelerated proton beam handling for cell irradiation studies

Proton acceleration by laser-plasma interaction is gaining scientific interest thanks to recent developments in laser technology. Laser-produced ion beams are reliable enough to envision multiple applications, such as experiments of dose deposition into living cells. The study of radiation biology on laser based accelerators is most interesting due to the unique irradiation conditions (high current and short bunch duration) that can be reached. However, laser-accelerated proton beams have intrinsic characteristics that are not suitable for direct use in practical applications. An appropriate beamline is required to produce clean and controllable irradiation conditions from the wide energy spectrum and large angular divergence produced by the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) regime. For in vitro radiobiology studies, it is necessary to provide a wide irradiation surface and uniform dose distribution. We present the realisation of a beam transport system to shape and control the proton beam for in vitro irradiation. A set of four permanent magnet quadrupoles, designed by INFN-LNS, is used to transport and focus the beam, efficiently cleaning the spectrum and providing with a large and uniform irradiation surface. Shot-to-shot dosimetry is implemented and calibrated for absolute dose deposition evaluation in the irradiation volume. Preliminary results in radiation biology will also be presented, comparing cell response to proton beam irradiation from laser accelerators and conventional sources.

Speaker: Mr Loann Pommarel (Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, ENSTA ParisTech / CNRS / École polytechnique, Université Paris-Saclay)

12:10 A radiobiology experiment on Breast cancer cell line using Laser Driven electron Accelerators

First radiobiological experience at ILIL with electron beams generated by a 2TW laser system.

Speaker: Dr Luigi Minafra (IBFM CNR)

Slides ELIMED_Minafra_08.09.16.pdf

12:30 → 13:30 Lunch

12:30 → 13:30 Poster Session

Permanent Poster session

13:30 → 15:40 Multidisciplinary Applications: I

Convener: Giuseppe Cirrone (LNS)

13:30 Review on Multidisciplinary Applications of Laser Plasma Accelerators

Speaker: Dr Georg Korn (x)

14:10 Review on Laser-driven proton imaging

Speaker: Dr D. Dedes (LMU)

14:50 Imaging using Plasma Betatron Radiation

Laser-wakefield accelerators driven by high-intensity short-pulse lasers are a proven compact source of high energy electron beams, demonstrating GeV acceleration over centimetre distances. One of the proposed uses for these accelerators is the driving of hard x-ray synchrotron light sources, which in this context is known as betatron radiation. Such sources have been shown to be bright, have small source size and high photon energy, and are therefore interesting for imaging applications. Working with a novel accelerator configuration at the Astra-Gemini laser facility of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, we improved the average betatron x-ray flux by more than a factor of 10 compared to previous experiments. This fact, coupled to the stability of the radiation source, facilitated the acquisition of phase-contrast images of soft tissue, absorption-contrast images of hard tissue, and full 3D tomograms of mouse neonates which required the recording of over 500 successive images. Such performance is unprecedented in the betatron field and indicates the usefulness of these sources in clinical imaging applications, scalable to very high photon flux without compromising source size or photon energy.

Speaker: Dr Jason Cole (Imperial College London)

Slides Jason_Cole_-_ELIMED_2016_public.pptx

15:15 On-line monitoring for particle beams

The growing interest in charged particle therapy is due to its extreme precision in the dose delivery to oncological patients and the quality assurance for these treatments is mandatory. Dedicated on-line monitoring systems, based on the detection of the secondary radiation produced by the interaction of particle beams and matter, have being developed in the last years. The detection of the ß+ emitters, generated in the irradiated volume, using specifically developed PET system is one of the possible way to realize the on-line monitoring of particle therapy treatments. Also, methods based on prompt-γ, that are emitted during the treatment have been developed and applied in clinical environment. The expectation of the scientific community is that the use of these monitoring systems in clinical practice will improve the precision of the treatments allowing the margins reduction in the design of treatment plans, enabling to take full advantage of the benefits of particle therapy. These on-line monitoring systems are compact, to not interfere with the dose delivery, are able to provide in real-time information on proton beam range and are able to cope with high particle rates: all these characteristics made these systems easily adaptable also to other research fields, as the characterization of laser driven particle beams. In this presentation a report on monitoring systems will be presented.

Speaker: Valeria Rosso (PI)

Slides eli-VR-sito.pdf

15:40 → 16:00 Coffee Break

15:40 → 16:00 Poster Session

Permanent Poster session

16:00 → 17:55 Multidisciplinary Applications: II

Convener: Dr Jason Cole (Imperial College London)

16:00 The Nuclear Resonance Scattering Calibration Technique for the EuroGammaS Gamma Characterisation System at ELI-NP-GBS

ELI-NP Gamma Beam System (GBS) that will be implemented in Magurele, Romania, will deliver an intense gamma beam, obtained by collimating the radiation emerging from an inverse Compton interaction, with unprecedented performances in terms of brilliance, photon flux and energy bandwidth in an energy range from 0.2 to 20 MeV[1,2]. A gamma beam characterisation system providing a measurement of the energy spectrum, intensity, space and time profile is crucial for the commissioning. A precise energy calibration of the gamma beam and an evaluation of its stability during operation are also mandatory specifications of the ELI-NP-GBS. The gamma-beam characterisation system, designed by the EuroGammaS collaboration, consists of four elements: a Compton spectrometer (CSPEC), to measure and monitor the photon energy spectrum, in particular the energy bandwidth; a sampling calorimeter (GCAL), for a fast combined measurement of the beam average energy and its intensity, to be used also as monitor during machine commissioning and development; a nuclear resonant scattering spectrometer (NRSS), for absolute beam energy calibration and inter-calibration of the other detector elements; and finally a beam profile imager (GPI) to be used for alignment and diagnostics purposes. During this presentation, a general overview of the ELI-NP gamma characterisation system will be given and the NRSS system will be discussed. [1] O. Adriani et al. arXiv:1407.3669 [physics.acc-ph] (2014) [2] D. Filipescu et al. Eur. Phys. J. A 51 (2015) 185

Speaker: Dr Maria Grazia Pellegriti (CT)

16:25 Gamma ray beams for Nuclear Astrophysics: first results of tests and simulations of the ELISSA array

The Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) facility, under construction in Magurele near Bucharest in Romania, will provide high-intensity and high-resolution gamma ray beams that can be used to address hotly debated problems in nuclear astrophysics, such as the measurement of controversial 12C(α,γ)16O cross section through the 16O(γ,α)12C reaction, the accurate measurements of the cross sections of the 24Mg(γ,α)20Ne reaction and other photo-dissociation processes relevant to stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis [1]. For this purpose, a silicon strip detector array (named ELISSA) will be realized in a common effort by ELI-NP and INFN-LNS (Catania, Italy), in order to measure excitation functions and angular distributions over a wide energy and angular range. We performed very accurate GEANT4 simulations in order to optimize resolution, detection efficiency, compactness, granularity, possibility of particle identification and costs. According to our simulations, the final design of ELISSA will be the barrel configuration. This results in a very compact design as the distance target - detector is about 10 cm, leaving open the possibility in the future to pair a neutron detector with the ELISSA. Because of the compact design of the detector, time-of-flight or standard ΔE-E approach cannot be used for particle ID. However, kinematical identification still making possible to separate the reaction of interest from others thanks to the good expected angular and energy resolutions. A prototype of ELISSA was built and tested at Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (INFN-LNS) in Catania with the support of ELI-NP. In this occasion, we have carried out experiments with alpha sources and with a 11 MeV 7Li beam. We used X3 and QQQ3 silicon-strip position sensitive detectors manufactured by Micron Semiconductor ltd. Thanks to our approach, the first results of those tests show up a very good energy resolution (better than 1%) and very good position resolution, of the order of 1 mm. At very low energies, below 1 MeV, a worse position resolution is found, of the order of 5 mm, but still good enough for the measurement of angular distribution and the kinematical identification of the reactions induced on the target by gamma beams. Moreover, a threshold of 150 keV can be easily achieved with no cooling. We will discuss technical details of the detector and present results regarding Monte Carlo simulation, energy resolution and detection thresholds of ELISSA, the physical cases to be investigated. To sum up, these tests allows us to say that the X3 detectors, as well the standard QQQ3 detectors, are perfectly suited for nuclear astrophysics studies with ELISSA. 1. D. Filipescu et al., Eur. Phys. J. A51, 185 (2015). 2. O. Tesileanu et al., Rom. Rep. Phys. 68, Suppl. S699-S734 (2016)

Speaker: MARCO SALVATORE La Cognata (LNS)

Slides LaCognata-Marco-ELIMED2016.pptx

16:50 Solid Hydrogen target for laser driven proton acceleration

There is a great interest for fundamental research but also for applied research, in producing energetic protons. These protons can be used for example in the field of thermonuclear inertial confinement fusion research or in medical domains as proton therapy. One mean to obtain a beam of energetic protons consists in focusing a high intensity laser on a target. Various physical mechanisms of laser-driven ion acceleration have been investigated to date. The mechanism most investigated experimentally is the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) when ions are accelerated at the rear side of thin target in a quasi- electrostatic sheath formed by fast electrons propagating from the target front side 3,4 . A suitable target for this application is a thin ribbon of solid H2. In this context, the low temperature laboratory of the CEA developed a cryostat able to produce a continuous film of solid H2 of some tens of microns in thickness and one millimeter in width. A new extrusion technique is used, without any mobile part. Thermodynamic properties of the fluid are used to achieve this goal. The principle is as follow: Once the experimental cell is totally filled with solid H2, the inlet valve is closed and the top of the cell is heated up. The pressure increases and pushes the solid H2 placed at the bottom of the cell through a calibrated hole. The construction of new high power laser facilities (e.g. high repetition rate petawatt-class lasers at ELI-Beamlines5) will clearly enable numerous prospective applications based on secondary sources of energetic particles. In particular the use of the proposed solid hydrogen cryogenic target along with these emerging laser technologies will allow demonstrating future medical applications such as hadron therapy 6,7. In fact, in recent years pilot experiments of cancer cell irradiation have already been realized8. The possibility to use other gases than hydrogen (e.g. deuteron) suitable for different applications is also envisioned in the future. 3 S.P. Hatchett et al., Phys. Plasmas 7, 2076 (2000). 4 A. Maksimchuk et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4108 (2000). 5 http://www.eli-beams.eu 6 K.W.D. Ledingham et al., British J. Radiology 80, 855 (2007). 8 A. Yogo, T. Maeda, T.Hori et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 053701 (2011).

Speaker: Prof. Jean-Paul PERIN (CEA/INAC/Service des Basses Temperatures)

17:15 Cultural heritage with proton beams

Speaker: Dr Francesco Paolo Romano (LNS)

17:35 Diagnostics techniques and dosimetric evaluations for environmental radioactivity investigations

A comprehensive study was conducted about the investigation of the natural/anthropogenic radioactivity of various environmental matrices. Different diagnostics techniques were employed: high resolution HpGe gamma spectrometry, to quantify the activity concentration of radionuclides that emit gamma photons; liquid scintillation, to determine the activity concentration of tritium, radon and total alpha/beta in liquid samples; alpha spectrometry through the Rad7 setup, to estimate the gas radon activity concentration in air, water and soil; total alpha/beta counter, for the activity concentration quantification of radionuclides, in solid samples, emitting alpha/beta particles. From the dosimetric point of view, knowledge of the radioactivity level in the environmental matrices allows to evaluate any possible radiological hazard for the population, through the calculation of the appropriate parameters of radioprotection and their comparison with the safety limits reported by the current legislation.

Speaker: Dr Francesco Caridi (Environmental Protection Agency of Calabria, Italy (ARPACal), Department of Reggio Calabria)

19:30 → 23:50 Social Dinner

Shuttle from LNS to city center (Piazza Stesicoro) at 18:00
Dinner on the Diocesan Museum Terrace start at 19:30.
Visit at the Museum is possible for people arriving early

Friday, 9 September

09:00 → 11:30 Targetry, Diagnostics and Dosimetry: I

Convener: Dr Daniele Margarone (ELI-Beamlines, IoP-ASCR)

09:00 Advanced Diagnostics for laser-plasma accelerators

Speaker: Dr Neely David (RAL)

09:40 Beam delivery and dosimetry of laser-driven particle beams

Radiation therapy is an important modality in cancer treatment. Particle beams, due to their superior dose profile over photons, provide higher tumor dose conformity and healthy tissue sparing. But due to the high costs and huge size of the existing ion beam therapy (IBT) facilities, particle therapy is limited to few, large centers only. Ion acceleration on micro-m scale via high intensity laser has become a compelling alternative to conventional accelerators and gained interests for its potential to reduce size and costs for IBT facilities. Next generation petawatt lasers promise laser-driven particles (LDP) with therapeutic energies. But, in contrast to conventionally accelerated quasi-continuous mono-energetic pencil beams with about few Gy/sec dose rate, LDP beams have diverse properties, i.e. ultra-intense pico-sec bunches with about 1010 Gy/sec dose rate, large energy spread and divergence, and with only up to 10 Hz repetition rate. These properties make it challenging to adapt LDP beams directly for medical applications. In addition to laser particle accelerator development for generating therapeutically applicable beams, the distinct features of these beams demand new technical solutions for beam transport, field formation, dose delivery and dosimetry, along with research on the radiobiological consequences. The presented work is an ongoing joint translational research project, namely onCOOPtics, of several institutions in Germany aiming to establish laser-driven IBT. We will present the status focusing on beam delivery and dosimetry. Laser-based technology for LDP beams has been established for cell and small animal irradiation using a fixed beamline based on permanent magnets and integrated dosimetry and cell irradiation system (IDOCIS), which is being utilized for systematic radiobiological studies. For the translation towards clinics, focusing on laser-driven protons and proton therapy systems, a highly compact 360° isocentric proton gantry system (about 3 times smaller than conventional proton gantries) has been designed based on light-weight iron-less high-field pulsed magnets. The gantry is integrated with beam control, energy selection and a novel dose delivery system, capable to magnetically control the beam spot size and to scan the beam for advanced irradiation schemes. A 3D TPS has been adapted for dosimetric evaluation of our system and high quality clinical treatment plans can be provided with such beams. For the gantry realization a pulsed 40 T solenoid for particle capture and a 10 T compact iron-less 50° sector magnet were successfully tested. A pulsed 120 T/m gradient quadrupole is being manufactured. The conventional University Proton Therapy facility Dresden (UPTD, first patient treatment in Dec. 2014) is additionally equipped with a petawatt laser laboratory and an experimental bunker. This will allow testing for clinical applicability of LDP systems side-by-side with conventional therapeutic beams as reference. Acknowledgment: This project was supported by German BMBF grant (03Z1N511 and 03Z1O511).

Speaker: Dr U. Masood (HZDR)

10:20 Liquid crystals for high repetition rate targetry for laser driven ion acceleration

Practical application of laser based ion acceleration will require advances across a wide range of technologies extending from the laser system itself to the delivery of the ion beam. We have recently shown that the liquid crystal 8CB provides an effective and relatively inexpensive new approach to target and plasma mirror fabrication and insertion for ion acceleration. 8CB is primarily hydrogen and carbon and forms in layers approximately 3 nm thick in its smectic phase. Taking advantage of these properties, we have developed a device we call the Linear Slide Target Inserter (LSTI) that can form films in situ from under 10 nm in thickness to over 50 um. I will describe this new technology and its operation as a target inserter and as a high-power plasma mirror. For proton acceleration, the LSTI readily achieves energies of 25 MeV using pulses of only a few joules by tuning the target thickness for the specific laser pulse characteristics and pre-pulse contrast. For plasma mirrors, we have demonstrated a weak field reflectivity below 0.2% and a high field reflectivity above 75%, yielding a pulse contrast improvement over two orders of magnitude. The LSTI can form films at a rate of several per minute for the thinnest films and we have also developed a prototype based on a new design that has demonstrated an effective film formation rate above 1.5 Hz for very thin films under 100 nm. I will discuss the current limits of our approach and conclude with our plans and prospects for improving this capability to the level needed for practical application using ELI class laser systems.

Speaker: Prof. Douglass Schumacher Schumacher (Ohio State University)

Slides ELIMED.Schumacher.OSU.pdf

10:45 A target fabrication and characterization network for advanced laser light sources

The application of laser-driven proton beams to cancer therapy requires proton energy up to 250 MeV and delivered dose of a few Gy/min, i.e. a substantial enhancement of the current acceleration performances and operation in a repetitive regime (1-10 Hz). These requirements could be met by adopting advanced target configurations and PW-class CPA laser systems. However, thousands of targets per day would be required for high repetition rate experiments. The production and characterization of such a massive amount of solid targets would require resources and competencies not easily accessible to most research groups. Therefore, target availability could likely become a limiting factor preventing to exploit the full potential of upcoming advanced laser light user facilities, which promise major breakthroughs in the investigation of laser-driven particle sources, as well as laser-plasma interaction processes, isochoric heating and shock-compression physics. In this frame, we invited the community to discuss the construction of a target fabrication and characterization network for advanced laser light sources to ensure the availability of state of the art targets and to promote the formulation of common strategies to address issues related to target delivery and irradiation at high repetition rates. The synergy between partners will be developed along different strategic paths, depending on the commitment of the partners: from “know-how” sharing and target bartering to user-consortium contributes, to an integrated network which would provide coordination between target fabrication laboratories with complementary specific expertise. The EUCALL Satellite Meeting held in Dresden (August 29-31 2016) represents the first step towards the construction of a target fabrication and characterization network. Here we present the outcome of the meeting: the assessment of current target needs and available production capabilities, the possible funding strategies and the actions planned in view of an EU proposal aimed at the construction of a European target network.

Speaker: Dr Irene Prencipe (Institute of Radiation Physics, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf)

Slides ELIMED_Prencipe_2016.pdf

11:10 Efficient production and diagnostics of MeV proton beams from

A solid hydrogen thin ribbon, produced by the cryogenic system ELISE (Experiments on Laser Interaction with Solid hydrogEn) target delivery system, was for the first time experimentally used at the PALS kJ-laser facility to generate intense proton beams with energies in the MeV range. This sophisticated target system operating at cryogenic temperature (~10 K) continuously producing a 62µm thick target was combined with a 600 J sub-nanosecond laser pulse to generate a collimated proton stream. Both the hydrogen plasma and the accelerated proton beam were fully characterized by a number of diagnostics. High conversion efficiency of laser to energetic protons is of great interest for future potential applications in non-conventional proton therapy and fast ignition for inertial confinement fusion.

Speaker: Dr Andriy Velyhan (ELI Beamlines, Institute of Physics, ASCR, Prague, Czech Republic)

11:30 → 11:50 Coffee Break

11:30 → 11:50 Poster Session

Permanent Poster session

11:50 → 12:50 Targetry, Diagnostics and Dosimetry: III

Convener: Dr Irene Prencipe (Institute of Radiation Physics, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf)

11:50 Spatial profile modulation of a proton beam generated by laser interacting with micro-structured targets

The interaction of the laser system at LLC (Lund Laser Centre, 40 TW, 1020 W/cm2, 109 ns-contrast) with nano and micro structured thin (micrometer-scale) targets was systematically studied to control and to improve the main proton beam parameters. Mylar foils covered with nano-spheres on their rear side (with respect to the laser-target absorption surface) allowed to modulate the spatial profile of the accelerated proton beams. Moreover the presence of the nano-spheres allowed to improve the proton beam spatial homogeneity. Grating targets with different step dimensions influenced the divergence of the proton beam and drastically changed its shape through a sort of stretching effect. Experimental results will be here shown and discussed with the support of 2D and 3D particle-in-cell simulations.

Speaker: Dr Lorenzo Giuffrida (ELI beamlines)

Slides ELIMED_Giuffrida_final.pdf

12:10 Hollow targets for efficient acceleration of ions by ultrashort laser pulses

The efficiency of ion acceleration driven by high-power femtosecond laser pulses strongly depends on the target thickness as well as on the absorption of laser pulse energy into ionized solid target. The absorption can be enhanced by using submicron structures deposited on the target laser-irradiated surface. For example, previous experiments demonstrated increased efficiency of ion acceleration from the targets with deposited layer of closely-packed nanospheres on the laser-irradiated side (the so-called nanosphere targets). On the other hand, the layer of deposited structures may increase the overall target thickness, which is not favorable for the acceleration efficiency. Here, the employment of hollow targets is proposed, which enables to enhance the absorption of laser-pulse energy and to maintain a very small target thickness at the same time. It is demonstrated by full 3D particle-in-cell simulations that the efficiency of proton acceleration from hollow targets substantially exceeds the efficiency of the acceleration from flat foils of the same thickness. One can also observe that the enhanced proton acceleration is maintained with a larger incidence angle of the laser beam on the hollow target in contrast to the nanosphere target. Moreover, the fabrication of the first prototype of the proposed target by focused ion beam milling is briefly described.

Speaker: Dr Jan Psikal (FNSPE, Czech Technical University in Prague)

Slides Psikal-ELIMED2016-final.pdf

12:30 Ion acceleration in TNSA regime: bulk vs. surface contribution

Laser driven light-ion acceleration is being investigated for the optimization of ion cut-off energy using the ILIL facility with a laser intensity of up to 2 10^19 W/cm2. The energy spectra of different light-ions accelerated depending on structural characteristics of the target was obtained by means of a Thomson Parabola Spectrometer. Here, we focus our attention to the role of surface and target bulk in the acceleration process.

Speaker: Carmen Altana (LNS)

12:50 → 13:50 Lunch

12:50 → 13:50 Poster Session

Permanent Poster session

13:50 → 15:50 Targetry, Diagnostics and Dosimetry: II

Convener: Dr Valentina Scuderi (LNS)

14:30 Diagnostics for ELIMED

Speakers: Giuliana Giuseppina Milluzzo (LNS), Dr Valentina Scuderi (LNS)

14:50 Monte Carlo Application for the ELIMED Beam-line

In this poster, we present our Geant4-based Monte Carlo application for ELIMED beam-line simulation, including its features and most important results. We have used the application to aid the design of the beam-line, to estimate various beam characteristics, and to assess the amount of secondary radiation. Currently, we are working on the user interface and overall code quality. Once finished, the application will help the beam-line users in designing their experiments.

Speaker: Jan Pipek (LNS)

Slides presentazione5.pdf

15:10 A study of dosimetry and energy for low energy protons with ionization chambers, radiochromic films and silicon detector.

In recent years, the use of proton and ion beams applied in cancer treatment is increasing because of their excellent depth-dose profile, exhibiting a low dose in the entrance channel and a distinct dose maximum (Bragg peak) near the end of range in tissue. However the quantification of the dose in this region is experimentally difficult and requires beam optimization and the implementation of new dosimetry techniques. Such studies can be important to supply an accessible way of measuring dose distributions in proton cancer therapy centers. The 3 MV Tandem accelerator installed at the National Centre of Accelerators (CNA) in Seville allows to perform measurements with protons of a maximum energy of 6 MeV. These energies are particularly useful to study the region of the Bragg peak. In this work, firstly we present the preparation of a beamline for irradiation with proton beams of low energy and uniform intensity profile at the position of irradiation. Then we will show how this setup is applied to learn about the dose calibration of radiochromic films for proton energies at which maximum deposition occurs in their active layer. Results with different techniques of beam energy degradation (using as degraders air and mylar foils) will be compared to Geant4 simulations. The computations will be validated by using the direct measurement of the beam energies for the experimental configurations mentioned above. Such energies were measured with an ion implanted silicon detector placed at the same position of the samples irradiated in air.

Speaker: Maria Cristina Battaglia (Centro Nacional de Aceleradores)

Slides ELIM_ED_BATTAGLIA_.ppt

15:30 Laser and Beam Diagnostics Tools for the L3IA facility at Pisa

The main goal of L3IA project is to establish an outstanding beam-line operation of a laser- plasma source in Italy. In particular, our goal is to provide the laser-driven ion acceleration with the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) mechanism. L3IA will be ready to operate at the ILIL installation in Pisa at a first laser driver power of 100 TW in the first half of 2017, focusing on the identification of the laser-target interaction and the acceleration regime suitable for a reliable operation of the test facility. In this paper we will discuss all the laser and proton beam diagnostic tools we have developed so far and tested taking advantage of the existing 10 TW laser and test experimental chamber available at the ILIL laboratory in Pisa.

Speaker: Dario Augusto Giove (MI)

Slides Final_3rdELIMED_Dario_Giove_L3IA_diagnostics.pptx

15:50 → 16:50 Round Table

16:50 → 18:30 LNS Visit

Saturday, 10 September

08:00 → 16:00 Mount Etna Excurtion

Bus start at 8:30 from Piazza Stesicoro and 8:45 from LNS

Guided tour on Etna Mountain:
Nicolosi, Rifugio Sapienza, Crateri Silvestri
Lunch a Barone di Villagrande
On the way back bus will stop at LNS and at Piazza Stesicoro