Ion beams to combat cancer

The GSI experts have helped construct a customised acceleration facility for tumour treatments at the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT), where 1,300 patients can be treated annually. However, this kind of therapy still relies on a ring accelerator with a diameter of 20 metres and a weight of several hundred tonnes in order to generate the required ion beam. Scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, led by Professor Ulrich Schramm, are now investigating the possibility of accelerating protons with the help of high-power lasers. Their aim is to develop a process in which ultra-short light impulses shoot particles out of a wafer-thin foil. Using the DRACO high-power laser, the team irradiated the first cancer cells with laser-accelerated protons and examined the biological impact of the protons. “We estimate that it will take around eight years to develop a prototype,” says Schramm.

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