Showing papers by "G.A.P. Cirrone published in 2018"

First experimental proof of Proton Boron Capture Therapy (PBCT) to enhance protontherapy effectiveness

Abstract: Protontherapy is hadrontherapy’s fastest-growing modality and a pillar in the battle against cancer. Hadrontherapy’s superiority lies in its inverted depth-dose profile, hence tumour-confined irradiation. Protons, however, lack distinct radiobiological advantages over photons or electrons. Higher LET (Linear Energy Transfer) 12C-ions can overcome cancer radioresistance: DNA lesion complexity increases with LET, resulting in efficient cell killing, i.e. higher Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE). However, economic and radiobiological issues hamper 12C-ion clinical amenability. Thus, enhancing proton RBE is desirable. To this end, we exploited the p + 11B → 3α reaction to generate high-LET alpha particles with a clinical proton beam. To maximize the reaction rate, we used sodium borocaptate (BSH) with natural boron content. Boron-Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) uses 10B-enriched BSH for neutron irradiation-triggered alpha particles. We recorded significantly increased cellular lethality and chromosome aberration complexity. A strategy combining protontherapy’s ballistic precision with the higher RBE promised by BNCT and 12C-ion therapy is thus demonstrated.

EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB Design study towards a compact FEL facility at LNF

Abstract: On the wake of the results obtained so far at the SPARC_LAB test-facility at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (Italy), we are currently investigating the possibility to design and build a new multi-disciplinary user-facility, equipped with a soft X-ray Free Electron Laser (FEL) driven by a ∼ 1 GeV high brightness linac based on plasma accelerator modules. This design study is performed in synergy with the EuPRAXIA design study. In this paper we report about the recent progresses in the on going design study of the new facility.

SiCILIA-Silicon Carbide Detectors for Intense Luminosity Investigations and Applications.

Abstract: Silicon carbide (SiC) is a compound semiconductor, which is considered as a possible alternative to silicon for particles and photons detection. Its characteristics make it very promising for the next generation of nuclear and particle physics experiments at high beam luminosity. Silicon Carbide detectors for Intense Luminosity Investigations and Applications (SiCILIA) is a project starting as a collaboration between the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and IMM-CNR, aiming at the realization of innovative detection systems based on SiC. In this paper, we discuss the main features of silicon carbide as a material and its potential application in the field of particles and photons detectors, the project structure and the strategies used for the prototype realization, and the first results concerning prototype production and their performance.

A new energy spectrum reconstruction method for Time-Of-Flight diagnostics of high-energy laser-driven protons.

Abstract: The Time-of-Flight (ToF) technique coupled with semiconductor-like detectors, as silicon carbide and diamond, is one of the most promising diagnostic methods for high-energy, high repetition rate, laser-accelerated ions allowing a full on-line beam spectral characterization. A new analysis method for reconstructing the energy spectrum of high-energy laser-driven ion beams from TOF signals is hereby presented and discussed. The proposed method takes into account the detector's working principle, through the accurate calculation of the energy loss in the detector active layer, using Monte Carlo simulations. The analysis method was validated against well-established diagnostics, such as the Thomson Parabola Spectrometer, during an experimental campaign carried out at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL, UK) with the high-energy laser-driven protons accelerated by the VULCAN Petawatt laser.

Diagnostics and dosimetry solutions for multidisciplinary applications at the ELIMAIA Beamline

Abstract: ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure) multidisciplinary applications of laser-ion acceleration (ELIMAIA) is one the user facilities beamlines of the ELI-Beamlines facility in Prague. It will be dedicated to the transport of laser-driven ion beams and equipped with detectors for diagnostics and dosimetry, in order to carry out experiments for a broad range of multidisciplinary applications. One of the aims of the beamline is also to demonstrate the feasibility of these peculiar beams for possible medical applications, which means delivering controllable and stable beams, properly monitoring their transport parameters and accurately measuring the dose per shot. To fulfil this task, innovative systems of charged particle beam diagnostics have been realized and alternative approaches for relative and absolute dosimetry have been proposed. Concerning the first one, real-time diagnostic solutions have been adopted, involving the use of time-of-flight techniques and Thomson parabola spectrometry for an on-line characterization of the ion beam parameters, as well as radiochromic films, nuclear track detectors (typically CR39), and image plates for single shot measurements. For beam dosimetry, real-time beam/dose monitoring detectors have been realized, like the secondary emission monitor and a double-gap ionization chamber, which can be cross calibrated against a Faraday cup, used for absolute dosimetry. The main features of these detectors are reported in this work together with a description of their working principle and some preliminary tests.

Geant4 simulation of the ELIMED transport and dosimetry beam line for high-energy laser-driven ion beam multidisciplinary applications

Abstract: The ELIMED (MEDical and multidisciplinary application at ELI-Beamlines) beam line is being developed at INFN-LNS with the aim of transporting and selecting in energy proton and ion beams accelerated by laser–matter interaction at ELI-Beamlines in Prague It will be a section of the ELIMAIA (ELI Multidisciplinary Applications of laser-Ion Acceleration) beam line, dedicated to applications, including the medical one, of laser-accelerated ion beams (Margarone et al, 2013) [ 1 ]; (Cirrone et al, 2015) [ 2 ] A Monte Carlo model has been developed to support the design of the beam line in terms of particle transport efficiency, to optimize the transport parameters at the irradiation point in air and, furthermore, to predict beam parameters in order to deliver dose distributions of clinical relevance The application has been developed using the Geant4 (Agostinelli et al, 2013) [ 3 ] Monte Carlo toolkit and has been designed in a modular way in order to easily switch on/off geometrical components according to different experimental setups and user’s requirements, as reported in Pipek et al (2017) [ 4 ], describing the early-stage code and simulations The application has been delivered to ELI-Beamlines and will be available for future ELIMAIA’s users as ready-to-use tool useful during experiment preparation and analysis The final version of the developed application will be described in detail in this contribution, together with the final results, in terms of energy spectra and transmission efficiency along the in-vacuum beam line, obtained by performing end-to-end simulations

Silicon Carbide detectors for nuclear physics experiments at high beam luminosity

Abstract: Silicon carbide is a very promising material for next generation nuclear physics experiments at high beam luminosity. Such activities require devices able to sustain high fluxes of particles (up to 1014 ions/cm2) in order to determine the cross sections of very rare nuclear phenomena. One of these activities is the NUMEN project, which aims, through the double charge exchange reactions, to impact in the determination of nuclear matrix elements entering in the expression of half-life of the neutrino-less double beta decay. Due to the very low cross sections, these features can just be explored at fluences which exceed by far those tolerated in state of the art solid state detectors, typically used in this kind of experiments. The SiC technology offers today an ideal response to such challenges, giving the opportunity to cope the excellent properties of silicon detectors with the radiation hardness, thermal stability and visible blindness of SiC material.