DNA DSB Repair Dynamics following Irradiation with Laser-Driven Protons at Ultra-High Dose Rates

Protontherapy has emerged as more effective in the treatment of certain tumors than photon based therapies. However, significant capital and operational costs make protontherapy less accessible. This has stimulated interest in alternative proton delivery approaches, and in this context the use of laser-based technologies for the generation of ultra-high dose rate ion beams has been proposed as a prospective route. A better understanding of the radiobiological effects at ultra-high dose-rates is important for any future clinical adoption of this technology. In this study, we irradiated human skin fibroblasts-AG01522B cells with laser-accelerated protons at a dose rate of 10 9 Gy/s, generated using the Gemini laser system at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK. We studied DNA double strand break (DSB) repair kinetics using the p53 binding protein-1(53BP1) foci formation assay and observed a close similarity in the 53BP1 foci repair kinetics in the cells irradiated with 225 kVp X-rays and ultra- high dose rate protons for the initial time points. At the microdosimetric scale, foci per cell per track values showed a good correlation between the laser and cyclotron-accelerated protons indicating similarity in the DNA DSB induction and repair, independent of the time duration over which the dose was delivered

Characteristics of ion beams generated in the interaction of ultra-short laser pulses with ultra-thin foils

Experiments investigating ion acceleration from laser-irradiated ultra-thin foils on the GEMINI laser facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory indicate a transition to 'Light Sail' Radiation Pressure Acceleration when using circularly polarized, high contrast laser pulses. This paper complements previously published results with additional data and modelling which provide information on the multispecies dynamics taking place during the acceleration, and provides an indication on expected scaling of these processes at higher laser intensities

Dynamic control of laser driven proton beams by exploiting self-generated, ultrashort EM pulses

The data underpins the results presented in the article to be published in Physics of Plasmas (2016)

High energy implementation of coil-target scheme for guided re-acceleration of laser-driven protons

Abstract Developing compact ion accelerators using intense lasers is a very active area of research, motivated by a strong applicative potential in science, industry and healthcare. However, proposed applications in medical therapy, as well as in nuclear and particle physics demand a strict control of ion energy, as well as of the angular and spectral distribution of ion beam, beyond the intrinsic limitations of the several acceleration mechanisms explored so far. Here we report on the production of highly collimated ( $$\sim 0.2^{\circ }$$ ∼ 0 . 2 ∘ half angle divergence), high-charge (10s of pC) and quasi-monoenergetic proton beams up to $$\sim$$ ∼ 50 MeV, using a recently developed method based on helical coil targetry. In this concept, ions accelerated from a laser-irradiated foil are post-accelerated and conditioned in a helical structure positioned at the rear of the foil. The pencil beam of protons was produced by guided post-acceleration at a rate of $$\sim$$ ∼ 2 GeV/m, without sacrificing the excellent beam emittance of the laser-driven proton beams. 3D particle tracing simulations indicate the possibility of sustaining high acceleration gradients over extended helical coil lengths, thus maximising the gain from such miniature accelerating modules

Investigations of ultra-fast charge dynamics in laser-irradiated targets by a self proton probing technique

The data underpins the results presented in an article published in Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A, doi:10.1016/j.nima.2016.04.07

Polarization Dependence of Bulk Ion Acceleration from Ultrathin Foils Irradiated by High-Intensity Ultrashort Laser Pulses

Dataset underpinning publication with the same title currently in press in Physical Review Letters. The data include ion spectra and particle in cell simulation output

Laboratory unraveling of matter accretion in young stars

Accretion dynamics in the formation of young stars is still a matter of debate because of limitations in observations and modeling. Through scaled laboratory experiments of collimated plasma accretion onto a solid in the presence of a magnetic field, we open a first window on this phenomenon by tracking, with spatial and temporal resolution, the dynamics of the system and simultaneously measuring multiband emissions. We observe in these experiments that matter, upon impact, is ejected laterally from the solid surface and then refocused by the magnetic field toward the incoming stream. This ejected matter forms a plasma shell that envelops the shocked core, reducing escaped x-ray emission. This finding demonstrates one possible structure reconciling current discrepancies between mass accretion rates derived from x-ray and optical observations, respectively

Optimisation of laser driven proton beams by an innovative target scheme

Dataset underpinning the paper 'Optimisation of laser driven proton beams by an innovative target scheme' in Ahmed, H., Kar, S., Cantano, G., Doria, D., Giesecke, A.L., Gwynne, D., Lewis, C., Macchi, A., Nersisyan, G., Naughton, K., Willi, O., Borghesi, M., in Journal of Instrumentatio

Efficient post-acceleration of protons in helical coil targets driven by sub-ps laser pulses

Dataset underpinning the paper 'Efficient post-acceleration of protons in helical coil targets driven by sub-ps laser pulses' in Ahmed, H., Kar, S. et. al. in Scientific Reports

Dataset for "High energy implementation of coil-target scheme for guided re-acceleration of laser-driven protons"

Dataset underpinning the results presented in the article titled, "High energy implementation of coil-target scheme for guided re-acceleration of laser-driven protons" published in Scientific Reports (2020) Abstract of the paper: Developing compact ion accelerators using intense lasers is a very active area of research, motivated by a strong applicative potential in science, industry and healthcare. However, proposed applications in medical therapy, as well as in nuclear and particle physics demand a strict control of ion energy, as well as of the angular and spectral distribution of ion beam, beyond the intrinsic limitations of the several acceleration mechanisms explored so far. Here we report on the production of highly collimated ( ~ 0.2 degree half angle divergence), high-charge (10s of pC) and quasi-monoenergetic proton beams up to ~50 MeV, using a recently developed method based on helical coil targetry. In this concept, ions accelerated from a laser-irradiated foil are post-accelerated and conditioned in a helical structure positioned at the rear of the foil. The pencil beam of protons was produced by guided post-acceleration at a rate of ~ 2 GeV/m, without sacrificing the excellent beam emittance of the laser-driven proton beams. 3D particle tracing simulations indicate the possibility of sustaining high acceleration gradients over extended helical coil lengths, thus maximising the gain from such miniature accelerating modules