Design of a compact beam transport system for laser-driven proton therapy

We put forward a new design of a compact beam transport system for intense laser-driven proton therapy, where instead of using conventional pulsed solenoids, our design relies on a helical coil irradiated by a nanosecond laser pulse to generate strong magnetic fields for focusing protons. A pair of dipole magnets and apertures are employed to further filter protons with large divergences and low energies. Our numerical studies combine particle-in-cell simulations for laser-plasma interaction to generate high-energy monoenergetic proton beams, finite element analysis for evaluating the magnetic field distribution inside the coil, and Monte-Carlo simulations for beam transport and energy deposition. Our results show that with this design, a spread-out Bragg peak in a range of several centimeters to a deep-seated tumor with a dose of approximately 16.5 cGy and fluctuation around 2% can be achieved. The instantaneous dose rate reaches up to 10⁹ Gy/s, holding the potential for future FLASH radiotherapy research.