Numerical simulation of isotope production for positron emission tomography with laser-accelerated ions

The experimental demonstration of laser acceleration of ions to multi-MeV energies with short, intense laser pulses has spurred the prospect of using this ion source for medical isotope production. Using numerical models for laser-plasma interaction and ion acceleration, then for ion transport and isotope production, we compute the isotope yields that could be expected from such sources, and their variations with interaction parameters such as target thickness and laser intensity. Using 36fs, 4×1020W∕cm2 pulses at kilohertz repetition rate, more than 100GBq of F18 are expected after irradiation for 1h.