Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 224, 2621-2624 (2015)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2015-02573-9

Regular Article

Laser-based ion sources for medical applications

¹ P. N. Lebedev Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
² Center for Fundamental & Applied Research, VNIIA, ROSATOM, 127055 Moscow, Russia

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Received: 27 June 2014
Revised: 31 August 2015
Published online: 26 October 2015

Abstract

Interaction of relativistic short laser pulses with thin foils is studied by using 3D PIC simulations in the context of ICAN's “dream laser”. It is shown that such a laser will make it possible to accelerate protons and deuterons to multi-MeV energies with a current density of 100 A/cm². The laser-triggered hadron beams may trigger nuclear reactions of interest for nuclear medicine and pharmacy. As an example, the yields C-11 for PET, of Tc-99m for SPECT, and neutrons for therapy have been analyzed.