Description
The Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) is emerging as a state-of-the-art user facility providing open access to ultrashort laser–plasma–driven particle and radiation sources for advanced radiobiology and cancer research [1]. ELI delivers femtosecond-class laser pulses generating ultrafast ionizing radiation characterized by extremely high instantaneous dose rates (10⁷–10¹² Gy/s), enabling access to irradiation regimes far beyond those achievable with conventional accelerators. The versatility of ELI’s laser systems allows the production of secondary sources—including protons, ions, electrons, and neutrons—at repetition rates ranging from 1 Hz to 1 kHz and energies from a few MeV up to a few GeV, achieved over sub-millimetre to millimetre-scale acceleration lengths using the highest peak-power lasers available worldwide.
Exploiting these laser–plasma radiation sources for radiobiology and medical research requires a coordinated interdisciplinary effort involving laser–plasma physicists, medical physicists, radiobiologists, and clinicians, together with the development of dedicated instrumentation (e.g. targetry and diagnostics), dosimetry strategies, and pre-clinical experimental protocols. This contribution will present the status of high-repetition-rate laser–plasma–driven secondary sources at ELI, ongoing pilot radiobiology experiments (in vitro and in vivo), and an assessment of the therapeutic potential of these novel irradiation modalities. These activities position laser–plasma-based radiation sources as a promising platform for exploring new frontiers in radiation biology and future clinical applications.
[1] K. Hideghety et al., Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2025) 140:730