Fig. 1: Overview of the model-conform dose delivery at Draco PW.
From: Tumour irradiation in mice with a laser-accelerated proton beam
a, The Draco PW laser, impinging on the laser target, drives a broadband LPA proton source. A selected spectral part of the protons is transported using a pulsed two-solenoid beamline. The ESA is inserted for spectral shaping and scatterers for lateral homogenization. The protons traverse the beam monitors and dosimeters installed downstream in air, before delivering the dose to the PTV behind the final beam aperture of the mouse bedding unit. b, Kinetic energy (Ekin) proton-source spectra at the Draco PW laser measured by stacked RCFs for two laser energies (Elaser) on target (Methods). Np,dose represents the fraction of the orange-source spectrum required for dose delivery. c, TOF-measured kinetic energy (Ekin) of the proton-source spectra at the PTV position with and without ESA of 15 mm (2 × NP,ESA (solid blue line) and NP,No ESA (dashed blue line)). The green data represent the mean proton bunch energy EMean. d, Integral depth–dose distribution measured via the RCF stack compared with the TOF prediction (blue). The dose in the dRCF is highlighted in dark orange and the dose in the PTV is shown by the dashed line (PTV RCFs). Pseudo-colour images show the lateral dose distributions at selected RCF stack layers within the PTV.
