STFC/DL/ASTeC, Daresbury, Warrington, Cheshire, United Kingdom
UMAN, Manchester, United Kingdom
Cockcroft Institute, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom
USTRAT/SUPA, Glasgow, United Kingdom
The University of Manchester, The Photon Science Institute, Manchester, United Kingdom
The University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Cockcroft Institute, Warrington, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Normal conducting RF systems are currently able to pro-vide gradients of around 100 MV/m, limited by break-down on the metallic structures. The breakdown rate is known to scale with pulse length and, in conventional RF systems, this is limited by the filling time of the RF struc-ture. Progressing to higher frequencies, from RF to THz and optical, can utilise higher gradient structures due to the fast filling times. Further increases in gradient may be possible by replacing metallic structures with dielectric structures. The DATA programme at the Cockcroft Insti-tute is investigating concepts for particle acceleration with laser driven THz sources and dielectric structures, beam driven dielectric and metallic structures, and optical and infrared laser acceleration using grating and photonic structures. A cornerstone of the programme is the VELA and CLARA electron accelerator test facility at Daresbury Laboratory which will be used for proof-of-principle experiments demonstrating particle acceleration.
Cockcroft Institute, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom
UMAN, Manchester, United Kingdom
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
Proton beam therapy has been shown to be a promising alternative to traditional radiotherapy, especially for paedi- atric malignancies and radio-resistant tumours. Allowing a highly precise tumour irradiation, it is currently limited by range verification. Several imaging modalities can be utilised for treatment planning, but typically X-ray CT is used. CT scans require conversion from Hounsfield units to estimate the proton stopping power (PSP) of the tissue be- ing treated, and this produces inaccuracy. Proton CT (pCT) measures PSP and is thought to allow an improvement of the treatment accuracy. The Christie Hospital will use a 250 MeV cyclotron for proton therapy, in this paper a pulsed linac upgrade is proposed, to provide 350 MeV protons for pCT within the facility. Space contraints require a compact, high gradient (HG) solution that is reliable and affordable.
