ABSTRACT

Plasma acceleration of protons and ions is one of the most promising means by which one can make beam therapy more affordable and more accessible to patients. The desire to create compact laser plasma acceleration proton therapy systems is one of the main motivations for developing plasma acceleration of protons. This chapter describes different regimes and mechanisms of proton/ion plasma, which includes sheath acceleration, target normal sheath acceleration, radiation pressure acceleration, specifically the mechanisms of hole-boring and light-sail acceleration, shock acceleration and the relativistic transparency regime. The underlying mechanism of X-ray and proton cancer therapy is the ability to prevent the replication of malignant cancer cells. This control is achieved by damaging the DNA of cancerous cells. The chapter explains the basic facts about DNA's response to radiation. The most widely used accelerator for proton therapy facilities has been a cyclotron.