Laser-plasma particle sources for biology and medicine

Ultrashort, intense laser pulses can drive in plasmas small sized linear accelerators (Laser-Linac’s) of high energy elementary particles. These novel devices are facing a continuous, fast progress making them suitable alternatives to conventional linacs in many applications. Among them, cancer therapy may have by far the highest social impact at a global level. This paper is aimed at giving an updated overview of the scientific and technological effort devoted worldwide to the optimization of the laser acceleration technology in order to fulfill the clinical requirements. Here we discuss both ion and electron acceleration considering the different, challenging problems to be solved in each case. Current studies on radiobiology already in progress in many labs with the existing laser-based sources of particles are also described. The overall scenario in the field appears extremely exciting, and promises rapid, effective development.