Development and applications of a laser driven electron source
The remarkable progress made over the past two decades in the field of laser-plasma accelerators (LPAs) has opened the way to applications ranging from fundamental research (aimed at developing the next generation of large particle accelerators) to medical research, particularly radiotherapy.
In this thesis, I investigate and experimentally demonstrated the potential of an LPA driven by complex gas density profiles to generate very high energy electron (VHEE) beams with low energy spread and high charge.
Since VHEE are relevant to the radiotherapy treatment of deep-seated tumours, I also investigated the reliability of the Fricke dosimeter, a tool widely used in the medical field which is sensitive to dose-rate.
More specifically, I studied the effect of ultra-high dose rate on the Fricke yield and present here, the results of the first irradiations on Fricke dosimeter carried out using laser-generated VHEE electron beams.
