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Applied radiation physics in ion beam therapy and space radiation protection

Kolloquium der Abteilung 6

GSIs unique accelerator facilities are employed for a wide variety of different research topics from fundamental physics to material sciences, from medical physics to space radiation protection. The biophysics department of GSI exploits the existing accelerator infrastructure mainly to understand the interaction of heavy charged particles with biological matter. On the one hand to improve existing and develop new applications for the treatment of cancer and non-cancer diseases, and on the other hand to understand and mitigate the deleterious effects of prolonged manned missions in deep space. This physics-focused talk will give an overview of some current medical and space related projects of GSIs biophysics department. The medical part will mainly focus on the use of complex passive modulators in particle therapy and carbon-FLASH irradiations, whereas the space part will discuss the importance of light ion fragmentation and neutron production for space radiation protection.