About the most modern form of cancer radiation therapy

The Photoinjector Test Facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ) has been producing high brightness electron beams for more than 21 years. The research facility was designed to develop and optimize high brightness electron sources for free electron laser applications. After an introduction about the motivation to build the test facility and a summary of the state of the art at the end of the last century, the talk will summarize the main findings and development steps. This includes thegeneration of high brilliance electron beams, including the continuous improvement of beam quality,photocathode laser systems and photocathodes.

In addition, the talk will discuss two other applications of high-power electron beams: the generation of tunable THz radiation with high peak and average power, and the possibilities for investigating the most advanced form of radiation therapy against cancer, known as FLASH radiation therapy.

DESY is one of the world's leading accelerator centers. With DESY's large-scale facilities, researchers explore the microcosm in all its diversity - from the interplay of the smallest elementary particles and the behavior of novel nanomaterials to those vital processes that take place between biomolecules. The accelerators as well as the detection instruments that DESY develops and builds are unique tools for research: They generate the strongest X-ray light in the world, bring particles to record energies and open completely new windows into the universe.