The DRESDEN PLATFORM is a research hub for ultra-high dose rate radiobiology.

The recently observed FLASH effect describes the observation of normal tissue protection by ultra-high dose rates (UHDR), or dose delivery in a fraction of a second, at similar tumor-killing efficacy of conventional dose delivery and promises great benefits for radiotherapy patients. Dedicated studies are now necessary to define a robust set of dose application parameters for FLASH radiotherapy and to identify underlying mechanisms. These studies require particle accelerators with variable temporal dose application characteristics for numerous radiation qualities, equipped for preclinical radiobiological research.

Dosimetry for radiobiologicalexperiments at laser plasma-based proton accelerators.

Laser plasma-based accelerators (LPAs) of protons can contribute to research of ultra-high dose rate radiobiology as they provide pulse dose rates unprecedented at medical proton sources. Yet, LPAs pose challenges regarding precise and accurate dosimetry due to the high pulse dose rates, but also due to the sources' lower spectral stability and pulsed operation mode. Formodels, further challenges arise from the necessary small field dosimetry for volumetric dose distributions.

Ultra-short pulse laser acceleration of protons to 80 MeV from cryogenic hydrogen jets tailored to near-critical density.

Laser plasma-based particle accelerators attract great interest in fields where conventional accelerators reach limits based on size, cost or beam parameters. Despite the fact that particle in cell simulations have predicted several advantageous ion acceleration schemes, laser accelerators have not yet reached their full potential in producing simultaneous high-radiation doses at high particle energies. The most stringent limitation is the lack of a suitable high-repetition rate target that also provides a high degree of control of the plasma conditions required to access these advanced regimes.

Spectral-temporal measurement capabilities of third-order correlators.

We present a method extending scanning third-order correlator temporal pulse evolution measurement capabilities of high power short pulse lasers to spectral sensitivity within the spectral range exploited by typical chirped pulse amplification systems. Modelling of the spectral response achieved by angle tuning of the third harmonic generating crystal is applied and experimentally validated. Exemplary measurements of spectrally resolved pulse contrast of a Petawatt laser frontend illustrate the importance of full bandwidth coverage for the interpretation of relativistic laser target interaction in particular for the case of solid targets.

Enhanced ion acceleration from transparency-driven foils demonstrated at two ultraintense laser facilities.

Laser-driven ion sources are a rapidly developing technology producing high energy, high peak current beams. Their suitability for applications, such as compact medical accelerators, motivates development of robust acceleration schemes using widely available repetitive ultraintense femtosecond lasers. These applications not only require high beam energy, but also place demanding requirements on the source stability and controllability.

Time-of-flight spectroscopy for laser-driven proton beam monitoring.

Application experiments with laser plasma-based accelerators (LPA) for protons have to cope with the inherent fluctuations of the proton source. This creates a demand for non-destructive and online spectral characterization of the proton pulses, which are for application experiments mostly spectrally filtered and transported by a beamline. Here, we present a scintillator-based time-of-flight (ToF) beam monitoring system (BMS) for the recording of single-pulse proton energy spectra.

Off-harmonic optical probing of high intensity laser plasma expansion dynamics in solid density hydrogen jets.

Due to the non-linear nature of relativistic laser induced plasma processes, the development of laser-plasma accelerators requires precise numerical modeling. Especially high intensity laser-solid interactions are sensitive to the temporal laser rising edge and the predictive capability of simulations suffers from incomplete information on the plasma state at the onset of the relativistic interaction. Experimental diagnostics utilizing ultra-fast optical backlighters can help to ease this challenge by providing temporally resolved inside into the plasma density evolution.

Compact millijoule Yb:CaF laser with 162 fs pulses.

We report on a compact diode-pumped, chirped pulse regenerative amplifier system with a pulse duration of 162 fs and an output pulse energy of 1 mJ before as well as 910 µJ after compression optimized for the probing of ultrafast relativistic laser-plasma processes. A chirped volume Bragg grating (CVBG) acts as a combined pulse stretcher/compressor representing a robust solution for a CPA laser system in the millijoule range. Yb:CaF is used as gain medium to support a large bandwidth of 16 nm (FWHM) when spectral gain shaping is applied.

Publisher Correction: Spectral and spatial shaping of laser-driven proton beams using a pulsed high-field magnet beamline.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Spectral and spatial shaping of laser-driven proton beams using a pulsed high-field magnet beamline.

Intense laser-driven proton pulses, inherently broadband and highly divergent, pose a challenge to established beamline concepts on the path to application-adapted irradiation field formation, particularly for 3D. Here we experimentally show the successful implementation of a highly efficient (50% transmission) and tuneable dual pulsed solenoid setup to generate a homogeneous (laterally and in depth) volumetric dose distribution (cylindrical volume of 5 mm diameter and depth) at a single pulse dose of 0.7 Gy via multi-energy slice selection from the broad input spectrum.