PHASER: Future X-Ray Device to Blast Cancer Cells in Under a Second

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University are developing accelerator-based technology that aims to speed up cancer radiation therapy by hundreds of times, and make related medical devices more compact. This new approach could reduce patients' side effects and could help make radiation therapy more accessible around the world. This animation shows the proposed design of the X-ray therapy device, which the researchers hope will be able to deliver radiation powerful enough to target cancer cells in under a second instead of minutes. The project is called PHASER (pluridirectional high-energy agile scanning electron radiotherapy) and relies on high-power accelerator structures that are shown in bronze.