Grant to develop new radiation sources for medical, industrial and security applications

Powerful lasers could provide radiation to treat cancer and scan freight containers for explosives - News

By Danielle Reeves

Researchers across the UK will be looking at using extremely powerful lasers to develop new sources of radiation, thanks to a GBP 4.5 million grant from the EPSRC announced today. The scientific team anticipate diverse applications for these new radiation sources, including highly targeted treatment for cancers and rapid detection security devices to seek out hidden explosives.

The team, from across the UK, will investigate ways of harnessing the burst of intense high-energy radiation that is emitted when a laser beam is focused on a small quantity of metal, plastic or liquid.

The radiation that is emitted using this laser process is in the form of beams of ions, protons, neutrons, electrons, gamma rays and x-rays, depending on the energy and duration of the laser and the nature of the material being irradiated. An ultra short laser pulse can generate ultra short bursts of high energy particles and radiation that last mere picoseconds (millionths of a millionth of a second). Furthermore, by controlling the parameters of the interaction, it should be possible to control the characteristics of the radiation emitted as a result of the laser burst.

Of the different types of radiation that can be produced using this method, the scientific team have identified protons, ions and gamma-rays as those with the greatest potential for a multitude of applications. For example, laser-energised bursts of protons and ions could provide novel radiotherapy treatments for cancer. Compared to currently-used x-rays, ion beam radiotherapy would produce peaks of dose within the cancer, with little or no dose in surrounding cells. This would mean radiation exposure of other tissues and organs would be reduced by between 10% and 50%, leading to more effective cancer control and better quality of life for patients.

Gamma-ray radiation produced using lasers could be used for rapid imaging and detection of hidden explosives in large packages and even freight containers. Using this type of radiation imaging would give better resolution and clarity than is possible with current x-ray technology.

Dr Zulfikar Najmudin   from Imperial College London's Department of Physics, who is taking part in the research, explains that the possible applications of these types of radiation are far-reaching: "There are also a number of other possible applications for these radiation beams in industry and fundamental scientific research. Firing a flash of ions at a component in an electronic device, for example, can reveal information about its internal structure and be useful in engineering diagnostics and quality control of semiconductor electronics devices," he said.

Dr Najmudin adds: "What's more, we hope that in the long run our research will lead to the development of low-cost, compact lab bench-top-sized sources of the kind of intense beams that can currently only be produced presently by the enormous, highly expensive national-scale particle accelerators."

The EPSRC grant will be shared between collaborators at the following institutions: Queen's University Belfast, the Central Laser Facility at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, the National Physical Laboratory, Imperial College London and the Universities of Surrey, Birmingham, Paisley, Strathclyde and Southampton.

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