- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review Accelerators and Beams

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Compact dose delivery of laser-accelerated high-energy electron beams toward radiotherapy applications

Bing Zhou1,2, Zhiyuan Guo2, Yang Wan1,3,*, Shuang Liu2, Bo Peng1, Jianfei Hua2, and Wei Lu4,2,†

  • *Contact author: yangwan23@zzu.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: weilu@ihep.ac.cn
PDF

Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 28, 101304 – Published 27 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xdsm-7xmf

Abstract

The use of very high-energy electron (VHEE) beams for radiotherapy has been actively studied for over two decades due to their advantageous dose distribution, deep penetration depth, and great potential of ultrahigh dose-rate irradiation. Recently, laser-plasma wakefield accelerator (LWFA) has emerged as a promising method for the compact generation of VHEE beams, due to its substantially higher accelerating gradients compared to traditional radio-frequency accelerators. However, how to compactly deliver the LWFA-based VHEE beams of relatively large energy spread and create a maximum dose deeply inside the body remains very challenging. In this article, we present a simple dose delivery scheme utilizing only two dipole magnets for LWFA-based VHEE treatment. By adjusting the magnet strengths, the electron beams can be guided along different angular trajectories toward a precise position as deep as 20 cm within a water phantom, creating a maximum dose over the target region and significantly reducing the entrance dose. Supported by Monte Carlo simulations, such a beam delivery approach is demonstrated to be insensitive to the beam energy spread and meanwhile capable of controlling precisely the dose-peak position in both lateral and longitudinal directions. As such, a uniform dose peak can be generated by the weighted sum of VHEE beams that reach different dose-peak depths. These results demonstrate that LWFA-based VHEE beams can be compactly delivered into a deep-seated tumor region in a controllable manner, thus advancing the development of the VHEE radiotherapy toward the practical clinical applications in the near future.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (43)

  1. S. M. Bentzen, Radiation therapy: Intensity modulated, image guided, biologically optimized and evidence based, Radiother. Oncol. 77, 227 (2005).
  2. C. Elith, S. E. Dempsey, N. Findlay, and H. M. Warren-Forward, An introduction to the intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) techniques, tomotherapy, and VMAT, J. Med. Imaging Radiat. Sci. 42, 37 (2011).
  3. K. Otto, Volumetric modulated arc therapy: IMRT in a single gantry arc, Med. Phys. 35, 310 (2008).
  4. M. Urie, M. Goitein, and M. Wagner, Compensating for heterogeneities in proton radiation therapy, Phys. Med. Biol. 29, 553 (1984).
  5. C. DesRosiers, V. Moskvin, A. F. Bielajew, and L. Papiez, 150-250 MeV electron beams in radiation therapy, Phys. Med. Biol. 45, 1781 (2000).
  6. M. G. Ronga, M. Cavallone, A. Patriarca, A. M. Leite, P. Loap, V. Favaudon, G. Créhange, and L. De Marzi, Back to the future: Very high-energy electrons (VHEES) and their potential application in radiation therapy, Cancers 13, 4942 (2021).
  7. C. Yeboah and G. Sandison, Optimized treatment planning for prostate cancer comparing IMPT, VHEET and 15 MV IMXT, Phys. Med. Biol. 47, 2247 (2002).
  8. T. Fuchs, H. Szymanowski, U. Oelfke, Y. Glinec, C. Rechatin, J. Faure, and V. Malka, Treatment planning for laser-accelerated very-high energy electrons, Phys. Med. Biol. 54, 3315 (2009).
  9. M. Bazalova-Carter, B. Qu, B. Palma, B. Hårdemark, E. Hynning, C. Jensen, P. G. Maxim, and B. W. Loo Jr, Treatment planning for radiotherapy with very high-energy electron beams and comparison of VHEE and VMAT plans, Med. Phys. 42, 2615 (2015).
  10. E. Schüler, K. Eriksson, E. Hynning, S. L. Hancock, S. M. Hiniker, M. Bazalova-Carter, T. Wong, Q.-T. Le, B. W. Loo, Jr., and P. G. Maxim, Very high-energy electron (VHEE) beams in radiation therapy; treatment plan comparison between VHEE, VMAT, and PPBS, Med. Phys. 44, 2544 (2017).
  11. G. Zhang, Z. Zhang, W. Gao, and H. Quan, Treatment planning consideration for very high-energy electron flash radiotherapy, Phys. Med. 107, 102539 (2023).
  12. A. Lagzda, D. Angal-Kalinin, J. Jones, A. Aitkenhead, K. J. Kirkby, R. MacKay, M. Van Herk, W. Farabolini, S. Zeeshan, and R. M. Jones, Influence of heterogeneous media on very high energy electron (VHEE) dose penetration and a Monte Carlo-based comparison with existing radiotherapy modalities, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. B 482, 70 (2020).
  13. The CHUV-CERN Collaboration to design and construct a high-energy electron flash therapy facility, in CLIC Project Meeting 40 (2021), https://indico.cern.ch/event/1071466/contributions/4538013/attachments/2322311/3954858/CLIC%20project%20FLASH%202021-10-5.pdf#:~:text=As%20part%20of%20this%20effort%2C%20CHUV%20and%20CERN,high-energy%2C%20100%20MeV-range%2C%20electrons%20accelerated%20with%20CLIC-developed%20technology.
  14. T. Tajima and J. M. Dawson, Laser electron accelerator, Phys. Rev. Lett. 43, 267 (1979).
  15. E. Esarey, C. B. Schroeder, and W. P. Leemans, Physics of laser-driven plasma-based electron accelerators, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1229 (2009).
  16. C. G. R. Geddes, C. Toth, J. van Tilborg, E. Esarey, C. B. Schroeder, D. Bruhwiler, C. Nieter, J. Cary, and W. P. Leemans, High-quality electron beams from a laser wakefield accelerator using plasma-channel guiding, Nature (London) 431, 538 (2004).
  17. S. P. Mangles, C. Murphy, Z. Najmudin, A. G. R. Thomas, J. Collier, A. E. Dangor, E. Divall, P. Foster, J. Gallacher, C. Hooker et al., Monoenergetic beams of relativistic electrons from intense laser–plasma interactions, Nature (London) 431, 535 (2004).
  18. J. Faure, Y. Glinec, A. Pukhov, S. Kiselev, S. Gordienko, E. Lefebvre, J.-P. Rousseau, F. Burgy, and V. Malka, A laser–plasma accelerator producing monoenergetic electron beams, Nature (London) 431, 541 (2004).
  19. A. R. Maier, N. M. Delbos, T. Eichner, L. Hübner, S. Jalas, L. Jeppe, S. W. Jolly, M. Kirchen, V. Leroux, P. Messner, M. Schnepp, M. Trunk, P. A. Walker, C. Werle, and P. Winkler, Decoding sources of energy variability in a laser-plasma accelerator, Phys. Rev. X 10, 031039 (2020).
  20. R. Weingartner, S. Raith, A. Popp, S. Chou, J. Wenz, K. Khrennikov, M. Heigoldt, A. R. Maier, N. Kajumba, M. Fuchs et al., Ultralow emittance electron beams from a laser-wakefield accelerator, Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 15, 111302 (2012).
  21. Y. Wan, S. Tata, O. Seemann, E. Y. Levine, S. Smartsev, E. Kroupp, and V. Malka, Femtosecond electron microscopy of relativistic electron bunches, Light Sci. Appl. 12, 116 (2023).
  22. V. Malka, S. Fritzler, E. Lefebvre, M.-M. Aleonard, F. Burgy, J.-P. Chambaret, J.-F. Chemin, K. Krushelnick, G. Malka, S. Mangles et al., Electron acceleration by a wake field forced by an intense ultrashort laser pulse, Science 298, 1596 (2002).
  23. O. Lundh, J. Lim, C. Rechatin, L. Ammoura, A. Ben-Ismaïl, X. Davoine, G. Gallot, J.-P. Goddet, E. Lefebvre, V. Malka et al., Few femtosecond, few kiloampere electron bunch produced by a laser–plasma accelerator, Nat. Phys. 7, 219 (2011).
  24. C. Zhang, J. Hua, Y. Wan, B. Guo, C.-H. Pai, Y. Wu, F. Li, H.-H. Chu, Y. Gu, W. Mori et al., Temporal characterization of ultrashort linearly chirped electron bunches generated from a laser wakefield accelerator, Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 19, 062802 (2016).
  25. V. Malka, J. Faure, Y. A. Gauduel, E. Lefebvre, A. Rousse, and K. T. Phuoc, Principles and applications of compact laser–plasma accelerators, Nat. Phys. 4, 447 (2008).
  26. C. Joshi, S. Corde, and W. Mori, Perspectives on the generation of electron beams from plasma-based accelerators and their near and long term applications, Phys. Plasmas 27, 070602 (2020).
  27. Y. Glinec, J. Faure, V. Malka, T. Fuchs, H. Szymanowski, and U. Oelfke, Radiotherapy with laser-plasma accelerators: Monte Carlo simulation of dose deposited by an experimental quasimonoenergetic electron beam, Med. Phys. 33, 155 (2006).
  28. O. Lundh, C. Rechatin, J. Faure, A. Ben-Ismaïl, J. Lim, C. De Wagter, W. De Neve, and V. Malka, Comparison of measured with calculated dose distribution from a 120-MeV electron beam from a laser-plasma accelerator, Med. Phys. 39, 3501 (2012).
  29. K. Svendsen, D. Guénot, J. B. Svensson, K. Petersson, A. Persson, and O. Lundh, A focused very high energy electron beam for fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy, Sci. Rep. 11, 5844 (2021).
  30. Z. Guo, S. Liu, B. Zhou, J. Liu, H. Wang, Y. Pi, X. Wang, Y. Mo, B. Guo, J. Hua et al., Preclinical tumor control with a laser-accelerated high-energy electron radiotherapy prototype, Nat. Commun. 16, 1895 (2025).
  31. L. Whitmore, R. I. Mackay, M. Van Herk, J. Jones, and R. Jones, Focused VHEE (very high energy electron) beams and dose delivery for radiotherapy applications, Sci. Rep. 11, 14013 (2021).
  32. L. Whitmore, R. I. Mackay, M. V. Herk, P. Korysko, W. Farabolini, A. Malyzhenkov, R. Corsini, and R. M. Jones, CERN-based experiments and Monte-Carlo studies on focused dose delivery with very high energy electron (VHEE) beams for radiotherapy applications, Sci. Rep. 14, 11120 (2024).
  33. F. Reaz, K. N. Sjobak, E. Malinen, N. F. J. Edin, and E. Adli, Sharp dose profiles for high precision proton therapy using strongly focused proton beams, Sci. Rep. 12, 18919 (2022).
  34. K. Kokurewicz, E. Brunetti, A. Curcio, D. Gamba, L. Garolfi, A. Gilardi, E. Senes, K. N. Sjobak, W. Farabolini, R. Corsini et al., An experimental study of focused very high energy electron beams for radiotherapy, Commun. Phys. 4, 33 (2021).
  35. See Supplemental Material at http://link.aps.org/supplemental/10.1103/xdsm-7xmf for the CST-simulated magnetic field distribution, trajectories of the VHEE particles along the dose delivery system and the effects of VHEE energy spread on the dose peak position and size.
  36. J. Perl, J. Shin, J. Schümann, B. Faddegon, and H. Paganetti, topas: An innovative proton Monte Carlo platform for research and clinical applications, Med. Phys. 39, 6818 (2012).
  37. Y. Wan, O. Seemann, S. Tata, I. A. Andriyash, S. Smartsev, E. Kroupp, and V. Malka, Direct observation of relativistic broken plasma waves, Nat. Phys. 18, 1186 (2022).
  38. Y. Wan, S. Tata, O. Seemann, E. Y. Levine, E. Kroupp, and V. Malka, Real-time visualization of the laser-plasma wakefield dynamics, Sci. Adv. 10, eadj3595 (2024).
  39. O. Seemann, Y. Wan, S. Tata, E. Kroupp, and V. Malka, Refractive plasma optics for relativistic laser beams, Nat. Commun. 14, 3296 (2023).
  40. O. Seemann, Y. Wan, S. Tata, E. Kroupp, and V. Malka, Laser proton acceleration from a near-critical imploding gas target, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 025001 (2024).
  41. S. Jalas, M. Kirchen, P. Messner, P. Winkler, L. Hübner, J. Dirkwinkel, M. Schnepp, R. Lehe, and A. R. Maier, Bayesian optimization of a laser-plasma accelerator, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 104801 (2021).
  42. F. Irshad, C. Eberle, F M. Foerster, K v. Grafenstein, F. Haberstroh, E. Travac, N. Weisse, S. Karsch, and A. Döpp, Pareto optimization and tuning of a laser wakefield accelerator, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 085001 (2024).
  43. B. Zhou, Y. Wan, and W. Lu, Zenodo (2025), 10.5281/zenodo.17148994.

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 28, 101304– Published 27 October, 2025
  • Received 3 March 2025
  • Accepted 3 September 2025
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation