(Sunday, 7/29/2018) 5:05 PM - 6:00 PM
Room: Davidson Ballroom A
Purpose: Recent research on ultra-high dose rate electron radiation therapy (>50Gy/s) is limited due to lack of availability of intense electron beam sources that can deliver these high dose rates. We propose developing a Z-pinch accelerator (100 MV/M) to generate energetic electron beam with total energy up several hundred joules in tens of nanoseconds that will open new research opportunities in the field of flash radiotherapy.
Methods: A dense plasma focus (Z-pinch machine) is considered as a cost effective and compact micro tissue and cell irradiator for small-scale clinical studies. By using a computational radiative model, the total energy and flux of the generated electron beam, as a function of stored energy and operating pressure of the machine, has been estimated and the corresponding design parameters of the device have been optimized.
Results: The results show that up 10¹� electrons can generate per kJ stored energy of the accelerator in a single-shot operating mode. The duration of electron beam is about 10 nanoseconds. In an optimum operating pressure range (2 to 4 Torr), total energy of the electron beam is in the order of 10 J per kJ stored energy of the device. The average energy of the electrons is of the order 100keV.
Conclusion: Considering that, the penetration depth of 100keV electron is approximately 100µm in water, the delivered dose rate of electron can reach up 100 Gy/s in 1Hz operation of the machine and 10cm far from the source ( which provides 10 cm × 10cm standard field size). The repetitive operation of device up to 10Hz is also feasible. The significant dose rate that can be delivered by such an irradiator is well above the required dose rate for flash radiotherapy studies.
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