| | 7 | Abstract |
| | 8 | |
| | 9 | The ‘Laser-hybrid Accelerator for Radiobiological Applications’, LhARA, is conceived as a novel uniquely-flexible facility dedicated to the study of radiobiology. The technologies demonstrated |
| | 10 | in LhARA, which have wide application, may be developed to allow particle-beam therapy to be delivered in a completely new regime, combining a variety of ion species in a single treatment |
| | 11 | fraction and exploiting ultra-high dose rates. LhARA will be a hybrid accelerator system in which laser interactions drive the creation of a large flux of protons or light ions that are captured using |
| | 12 | a plasma (Gabor) lens and formed into a beam. The laser-driven source allows protons and ions to be captured at energies significantly above those that pertain in conventional facilities, thus |
| | 13 | evading the current space-charge limit on the instantaneous dose rate that can be delivered. The laser-hybrid approach, therefore, will allow radiobiological studies to be carried out in completely |
| | 14 | new regimes, delivering protons and light ions in a wide variety of time structures, spectral distributions, and spatial configurations at instantaneous dose rates up to and significantly beyond |
| | 15 | the ultra-high dose-rate ‘FLASH’ regime. |
| | 16 | It is proposed that LhARA be developed in two stages. In the first stage, a programme of in-vitro experiments will be served with proton beams with energies between 10 MeV and 15 MeV. In |
| | 17 | stage two, the beam will be accelerated using a fixed-field accelerator (FFA). This will allow experiments to be carried out in vitro and in vivo with proton beam energies of up to 125 MeV. In |
| | 18 | addition, ion beams with energies up to 30 MeV per nucleon will be available for in-vitro an in-vivo experiments. This paper presents the conceptual design for LhARA and the R&D programme by |
| | 19 | which the LhARA consortium seeks to establish the facility. |
| | 20 | |
