VHEE / FLASH

Contrary to conventional radiation therapy for tumor cell treatment, which minimizes dose deposition to minimize healthy tissue damage, ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy (FLASH effect) is hypothesized to reduce normal tissue toxicity with comparable tumor control by applying extremely high dose rates to tumorous cells. We explore the use of very high energy electrons (>100 MeV) produced by compact laser particle accelerators (LPAs) to achieve the benefits of the FLASH effect, including through the use of Monte Carlo simulation methods.

Spatial Light Modulator

The Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) petawatt-class (PW) laser system fluctuates in its spatial mode as it propagates, leading to the development of energy "hotspots" which can damage expensive optics in the beamline. One supposed way to control the spatial mode with minimal interference is via the use of a spatial light modulator (SLM) device. We demonstrated the feasibility of using an SLM to control the phase and amplitude of the beam profile, and developed a closed-loop feedback algorithm to detect and mitigate hotspots.