Cellular irradiations with laser-driven carbon ions at ultra-high dose rates.

Carbon is an ion species of significant radiobiological interest, particularly in view of its use in cancer radiotherapy, where its large Relative Biological Efficiency is often exploited to overcome radio resistance. A growing interest in highly pulsed carbon delivery has arisen in the context of the development of the FLASH radiotherapy approach, with recent studies carried out at dose rates of 40 Gy s. Laser acceleration methods, producing ultrashort ion bursts, can now enable the delivery of Gy-level doses of carbon ions at ultra-high dose rates (UHDRs), exceeding 10Gy s.