High power laser-driven particle acceleration for radiotherapy

Radiation therapy is an important modality in cancer treatment. Compact electron linear accelerators are widely used to provide electron and photon beams with a maximum energy of about 20 MeV for tumor irradiation. Heavy charged particles (protons and heavier ions) due to their superior dose profile over photons and electrons, provide higher tumor dose conformity and healthy tissue sparing. But due to high costs and huge size of existing facilities, ion therapy is limited to few, large centers only.