Abstracts

Introduction: We developed a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation tool forestimating the absorbed dose in mice organs irradiated with kilovoltage X-ray beamlets. Here we investigated the characteristics ofcollimators for preclinical kilovoltage minibeam radiotherapy [1].Materials & Methods: We adopted gCTD, a GPU-based MC code [2,3],simulating the irradiation with a 225 kVp orthovoltage X-ray beam.Virtual planar irradiations implied interposition of a comb collimatormade of W or Pb, of various thicknesses, producing a pattern ofrectangular slits of various width (from 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm) alternatedto septa, with a fixed center-to-center spacing (ctcs) of 1 mm [...]

Introduction: The FLASHlab@PITZ at DESY’s Photo Injector Test facilityexplores electron FLASH radiation therapy across a wide parameterspectrum. The startup beamline includes a 60⁰ dipole, BPMs, ICT,Faraday cup, screen stations, titanium window, experimental area, andFaraday cup in air. [...]

Introduction: FLASHlab@PITZ is a new R&D facility for radiationbiology studies (≤22 Mev, electrons) and is being setup at the PhotoInjector Test facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ). It provides worldwideunique beam parameters regarding delivered dose and dose rate [1].With an average dose rate within one pulse of up to 109 Gy/s and peakdose rates up to 4 × 1013 Gy/s, PITZ is fully capable of ultra-high doserate experiments, for example the investigation of the FLASH effect.Furthermore, clinical dose rates of 0.05 Gy/s are also available at PITZ.Materials & Methods: Dosimetry at such high dose rates is a majorchallenge [...]

Introduction: Ionizing irradiation of water and DNA causes reactiveoxygen species (ROS) generation and DNA damage that togetherresults in cell proliferation inhibition. Radiation treatment with ultrahigh dose rate (UHDR) leads to lower toxicity in healthy tissue keepingthe tumor therapeutic response [...]

Introduction: The FLASHlab@PITZ at DESY’s Photo Injector Test facilityexplores electron FLASH radiation therapy across a wide parameterspectrum. The startup beamline includes a 60⁰ dipole, BPMs, ICT,Faraday cup, screen stations, titanium window, experimental area, andFaraday cup in air [...]

Gun5, the new generation of high-gradient normal conducting 1.3 GHz RF guns for linac driven free-electron lasers like FLASH and European XFEL is under development at the Photo Injector Test facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ). Its improved cell geometry and cooling concept allow for RF pulse durations of up to 1 ms at 10 Hz repetition rate, at gradients of ˜60 MV/m at the cathode. [...]

Reaching the highest possible resolution is important for studying complex, hierarchical, and heterogeneous structures, for which high quality X-ray optics are pre-requisite. Multilayer Laue lenses are diffractive focusing optics, which consist of tens of thousands of layers and require about a week to deposit, usually via magnetron sputtering [...]

Focusing X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) beams to achieve the necessary power densities for applications such as single-particle imaging or nonlinear physics demands optics with high radiation hardness and minimal absorption. Further development of XFELs towards hard X-ray photon energies challenges existing nano-focusing optics able to withstand XFEL beams [1-2].We are actively developing multilayer Laue lenses (MLLs), which are diffraction-based X-ray optics capable of focusing hard X-rays to nanometer spot sizes [3]. [...]

Many photochemical reactions are thought to proceed via conical intersections, including biochemically mediated photochemistry. With the advent of hard X-ray free electron lasers, we have the ability to witness nuclear motions during conical intersection transversal with femtosecond and Ångström resolution. [...]

Exhaustive characterisation of polymorphism and phase transitions in active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) is of critical importance to pharmaceutical companies in the development of ‘solid forms’ used in patient therapy. Polymorphs of the same API may differ in their physical properties e.g. [...]