The CLIC technology for an electron flash therapy facility

Abstract The “FLASH”effect has emerged as a subject of significant interest in the field of radiation oncology due to its potential to improve the therapeutic index of radiotherapy. Over the past three decades, CERN has been advancing accelerator technology centered on X-band radiofrequency (RF) systems. This technology was originally developed to achieve the high accelerating gradients required for the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC), a proposed next-generation high-energy physics accelerator succeeding the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Leveraging this technological foundation, the development of a compact accelerator for radiotherapy applications based on X-band technology presents an interesting opportunity. Such a system could provide both high electron energies and a reduced footprint, facilitating the investigation of Very High Energy Electron (VHEE) beams for inducing the FLASH effect in deep-seated tumors.