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Physical review letters 129(24), 244801 (2022). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.244801, We report on a novel, non-invasive method applying Thomson scattering to measure the evolutionof the electron beam energy inside a laser-plasma accelerator with high spatial resolution. Thedetermination of the local electron energy without altering the final beam state enabled the in-situdetection of the acting acceleration fields, in this Letter demonstrated in a plasma density rampvarying from (265 ± 119) GV/m to (9 ± 4) GV/m. The presented data shows excellent agreementwith particle-in-cell simulations. This method provides new possibilities for detecting dynamics ofplasma-based accelerators and their optimization., Published by APS, College Park, Md.

Antioxidants 11(8), 1532 (2022). doi:10.3390/antiox11081532, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) imaging is a highly sensitive non-invasive imaging method for detection of small element quantities in objects, from human-sized scales down to single-cell organelles, using various X-ray beam sizes. Our aim was to investigate the cellular uptake and distribution of Q$_{10}$, a highly conserved coenzyme with antioxidant and bioenergetic properties. Q$_{10}$ was labeled with iodine (I$_2$-Q$_{10}$) and individual primary human skin cells were scanned with nano-focused beams. Distribution of I$_2$-Q$_{10}$ molecules taken up inside the screened individual skin cells was measured, with a clear correlation between individual Q$_{10}$ uptake and cell size. Experiments revealed that labeling Q$_{10}$ with iodine causes no artificial side effects as a result of the labeling procedure itself, and thus is a perfect means of investigating bioavailability and distribution of Q$_{10}$ in cells. In summary, individual cellular Q$_{10}$ uptake was demonstrated by XRF, opening the path towards Q$_{10}$ multi-scale tracking for biodistribution studies., Published by MDPI, Basel

Physica medica 104, 174 - 187 (2022). doi:10.1016/j.ejmp.2022.10.026, At the Photo Injector Test facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ), an R&D platform for electron FLASH and very high energy electron radiation therapy and radiation biology is being prepared FLASH$\mathrm{{\ell}ab@}$PITZ). The beam parameters available at PITZ are worldwide unique. They are based on experiences from 20 + years of developing high brightness beam sources and an ultra-intensive THz light source demonstrator for ps scale electron bunches with up to 5 nC bunch charge at MHz repetition rate in bunch trains of up to 1 ms length, currently 22 MeV (upgrade to 250 MeV planned). Individual bunches can provide peak dose rates up to 10$^{14}$ Gy/s, and 10 Gy can be delivered within picoseconds. Upon demand, each bunch of the bunch train can be guided to a different transverse location, so that either a “painting” with micro beams (comparable to pencil beam scanning in proton therapy) or a cumulative increase of absorbed dose, using a wide beam distribution, can be realized at the tumor. Full tumor treatment can hence be completed within 1 ms, mitigating organ movement issues. With extremely flexible beam manipulation capabilities, FLASHlab@PITZ will cover the current parameter range of successfully demonstrated FLASH effects and extend the parameter range towards yet unexploited short treatment times and high dose rates. A summary of the plans for FLASH$\mathrm{{\ell}ab@}$PITZ and the status of its realization will be presented., Published by Elsevier, Amsterdam

4th European Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop 2019, EAAC2019, La Biodola Bay, Isola d'Elba, Italy, 15 Sep 2019 - 20 Sep 2019, FLASHForward is a beam-driven plasma wakefield accelerator located at Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, Germany. Within the FLASHForward project, a laser-driven wakefield setup is used as testbed for the characterisation and development of diagnostics for plasma wakefield accelerators. These include different non-invasive charge diagnostics that are also tested for their usability in EMP noisy plasma environment. Another method investigated is Thomson Scattering, the interaction of relativistic electron bunches with a laser pulse resulting in x-ray beams. Results on using the dependence of the Thomson beam on the initial electron bunch parameters to study the electron bunches are presented.