Laser-driven proton pulses provide unique properties like ns pulse structure and instantaneous dose rate (10^9 Gy/s), but — inherently broadband and highly divergent — pose a challenge to established beamline concepts for application-adapted irradiation field formation, particularly for three-dimensional cases.
A highly efficient and tunable dual pulsed solenoid beamline was implemented at the Draco PW facility [1] to generate volumetric dose distributions tailored to specific applications [2]. This beamline setup is complemented by a complex detector suite for beam monitoring and dosimetry, adapted to the ultra-high dose rates, capable of %-level precision dose delivery to samples as required for systematic irradiation studies. This enables sophisticated experiments ranging from systematic volumetric in-vivo tumor irradiations to volumetric high-dose-rate irradiations in the proposed FLASH regime [3] as well as particle diagnostics commissioning [4].
In this presentation, the complex and versatile dose delivery system of laser-driven protons using pulsed solenoids will be explained. Its characterization, technological development and improvement, as well as recent experimental activities, will be discussed. The dosimetry suite as a vital part of the precise dose delivery will be addressed in more detail one week later.