Related papers: Proton-CAT: a Novel Strategy for Enhanced Proton T…
By applying a new technique for dynamic nuclear polarization involving simultaneous excitation of electronic and nuclear transitions, we have enhanced the nuclear polarization of the nitrogen nuclei in 15N@C60 by a factor of 1000 at a fixed…
It is shown that the energy of protons accelerated in laser-matter interaction experiments may be significantly increased through the process of splitting the incoming laser pulse into multiple interaction stages of equal intensity. From a…
Using particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate an improvement of the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) of protons in non-periodically nanostructured targets with micron-scale thickness. Compared to standard flat foils, an…
We used the GEANT4 Monte Carlo MC Toolkit to simulate carbon ion beams incident on water, tissue, and bone, taking into account nuclear fragmentation reactions. Upon increasing the energy of the primary beam, the position of the Bragg-Peak…
Monitoring the dose delivered during proton and carbon ion therapy is still a matter of research. Among the possible solutions, several exploit the measurement of the single photon emission from nuclear decays induced by the irradiation. To…
In oncology, treating cancer with a beam of photons is a well established therapeutic technique, developed over 100 years, and today over 50% of cancer patients will undergo traditional X-ray radiotherapy. However, ionizing radiation…
Radiation therapy with carbon ions is a novel technique of cancer radiotherapy, applicable in particular to treating radioresistant tumours at difficult localisations. Therapy planning, where the medical physicist, following the medical…
Dual-energy CT (DECT) has been widely investigated to generate more informative and more accurate images in the past decades. For example, Dual-Energy Alternating Minimization (DEAM) algorithm achieves sub-percentage uncertainty in…
Laser-driven ion acceleration is an attractive technique for compact high-energy ion sources. Currently, among various physical and technical issues to be solved, the boost of ion energy and the reduction of energy spread represent the key…
In this work, we propose a novel technique for in-vivo proton therapy range verification. This technique makes use of a small hadron tumour marker, $^{92}$Mo, implanted at a short known distance from the clinical treatment volume. Signals…
Laser accelerated protons can be a complimentary source for treatment of oncological diseases to the existing hadron therapy facilities. We demonstrate how the protons, accelerated from near-critical density plasmas by laser pulses having…
PET is an established medical diagnostic imaging method. Continuous improvements are aimed at refining image reconstruction, reducing the amount of radioactive tracer and combining with targeted therapy. TOF-PET provides the localization of…
The proton-Boron 11 (p-B11) fusion reaction is much harder to harness for commercial power than the easiest fusion reaction, namely the deuterium and tritium (DT) reaction. The p-B11 reaction requires much higher temperatures, and, even at…
Low-dose Proton Computed Tomography (pCT) is an evolving imaging modality that is used in proton therapy planning which addresses the range uncertainty problem. The goal of pCT is generating a 3D map of Relative Stopping Power (RSP)…
During the past decade, the interaction of high-intensity lasers with solid targets has attracted much interest, regarding its potential in accelerating charged particles. In spite of tremendous progress in laser-plasma based acceleration,…
The $^{10}$B isotope has been almost exclusively used in the neutron-capture radiation therapy (NCT) of cancer for decades. We have identified two other nuclides suitable for the radiotherapy, which have ca.10 times larger cross section of…
The production of polarized proton beams with multi-GeV energies in ultra-intense laser interaction with targets is studied with three-dimensional Particle-In-Cell simulations. A near-critical density plasma target with pre-polarized proton…
Selective accumulation of B-10 compound in tumour tissue is a fundamental condition for the achievement of BNCT (Boron Neutron Capture Therapy), since the effectiveness of therapy irradiation derives just from neutron capture reaction of…
Laser-driven proton sources have long been developed with an eye on their potential for medical application to radiation therapy. These sources are compact, versatile, and show peculiar characteristics such as extreme instantaneous dose…
In this work, we investigate the electrical conductivity of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), with a particular focus on the effects of doping. Using a first-principles approach, we study the electronic structure, phonon dispersion, and…