Hadron Therapy Based on Laser Acceleration in the Plasma Channel Using Oxygen Ionization

Abstract

In a cancer radiation treatment, Hadron therapy plays an important role as a technique with a high accuracy providing treatment results better than conventional radiation therapy methods such as chemotherapy. The laser-based Hadron therapy techniques are attractive due to their compactness in producing miniaturized particle accelerators and supporting a more intense electric field compared to other methods. A good-quality laser beam focusing and guiding in a cold plasma channel leads to an accurate and precise laser spot after focus, which is an important necessity in medical aims and occurs in $\mu m$ -wavelength (ultra-short pulse) laser types. A method used to level up this treatment approach has been emerged by using high-power lasers along with plasma channels as a source for high energy to more effectively perform the Hadron therapy. Additionally, cancer treatment by using ions as the particle transferor is preferred over other methods for Hadron therapy due to some physical properties such as maximum energy deposition to the cancerous targets providing a better dose delivery to the tumor. In this paper, multiple simulations around the dose delivery procedures were presented for efficient dosimetric evaluations. Moreover, the effects of the electric field on the particle energy enhancement were evaluated in the presence of the plasma channel. Finally, it was demonstrated that the use of Oxygen ion in the presence of plasma channel is the appropriate approach due to its minor energy dissipation through matter on the way to the tumor for a better dose delivery which was impressed with radially polarized laser accelerator simultaneously. The proposed research demonstrated that the Hadrons can reach the maximum accelerated energy and convey the maximum path through the body to the cancerous target and finally deliver the sufficient dose to the tumor by using Oxygen ion beam in a cold plasma channel, which is low in density, with appropriate laser power. Consequently, Hadron therapy by using Oxygen ionization in the laser-plasma based accelerator is an impressive and efficient method for precise cancer treatment. Lastly, Laser-Plasma accelerators have three important limitation factors of “Energy Spread”, “Dephasing Length”, and “Pump Depletion”, which can limit the energy increasing. In this paper, facing up to these limitations was a critical challenge in Hadron therapy for better Hadron acceleration and dose delivery.