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The SHARP project [1] is studying how we can use new technology under development for advanced particle accelerators such as plasma wakefield accelerators to make radiation therapy for cancer even more precise. The method we are developing is that we use an active plasma lens (see picture above) to first enlarge the beam, enabling it to then be efficiently focused with a large convergence angle. Effectively, the particles will simultaneously converge towards the target from many different directions. Using an active plasma lens makes the focusing system significantly more compact than what would otherwise be possible, as illustrated below.
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The task of one or more master students in this project is to look for answers to one or more of the following questions:
- How can this style of particle beam optics be integrated with the experimental beamline at the Oslo proton therapy center?
- The beam from the proton therapy center is accelerated with a cyclotron, which delivers long beam pulses. How can an active plasma lens, which is a discharge device, be adapted to this time structure?
- In a treatment facility with this style of final focus beam optics, what would be the treatment possibilities?
The work will include both computer simulations of beam optics and radiation transport Monte-Carlo, and potentially also experimental work at the CERN CLEAR VHEE (200 MeV electrons) accelerator [3], where we have an active plasma lens [4-6].
[1] https://www.mn.uio.no/fysikk/english/research/projects/sharp-particle-accelerator-precision-focus-system-medical-applications/
[2] https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.19712
[3] https://clear.cern/
[4] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168900218300809
[5] https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.194801
[6] https://journals.aps.org/prab/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.24.121306