https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-02134-z
Review
Handling and dosimetry of laser-driven ion beams for applications
1
Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS)-Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Catania, Italy
2
Centre for Plasma Physics, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, UK
3
Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI)-Beamlines Center, Institute of Physics (FZU), Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
4
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia E. Majorana, Università degli Studi di Catania, Catania, Italy
5
Centro Siciliano di Fisica Nucleare e Struttura della Materia, Catania, Italy
Received:
3
May
2021
Accepted:
31
October
2021
Published online:
22
November
2021
The acceleration processes based on the coherent interaction of high-power lasers with matter are, by now, one of the most interesting topics in the field of particle acceleration, becoming day by day a real alternative to conventional approaches. Some of the extraordinary peculiarities of laser–matter interaction, such as the production of multi-species (gamma, X-rays, electrons, protons and ions), short-pulsed and intense beams are particularly attracting for many applications as well as for fundamental physics. In particular, laser-accelerated protons, if well controlled in terms of final energy spread, divergence and dose rate, could lead to investigate new research regimes in the field of medical physics, as well as in radiobiological applications. Many approaches are currently being developed aiming at optimizing the laser–target interaction mechanism and at collecting and selecting through dedicated transport beamlines the laser-accelerated proton beams in a future perspective to use them for the medical and radiobiological applications with a reduced uncertainty. An overview of the main parameters characterizing the laser-accelerated protons and of the transport, diagnostics and dosimetry solutions, currently adopted from the laser community, will be provided in this contribution.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
