HV research
Surface wakefield acceleration for proton therapy
Particle accelerators were always fascinating to me. In 2019, I was reading about the photoelectric effect and wondered; if an intense beam of photons with the right frequency scanned across a metal surface, could it create a moving region of strong electric potential? And could this electric field be used to accelerate protons faster and more efficiently than large cyclotrons?
Well, this turned into an ambitious project for the next couple of years. I had no previous experience with high voltage, vacuum systems, or computer simulations of this complexity. Ultimately, I was in over my head and never got conclusive data. Nonetheless it was a great learning opportunity and boosted me toward my present studies.
