Flash radiotherapy accelerator system

An accelerator system for use in a radiotherapy system, comprising:

• a particle accelerator configured to receive charged particles from a pulsed source, wherein the particle accelerator comprises:
• a pipe configured to allow the charged particles to pass through as a beam,
• a magnetic core positioned proximate to the pipe and coupled to the pulsed source, and
• a multilayer insulator positioned adjacent to the pipe and the magnetic core;
• and
• a photoconductive switch coupled to the particle accelerator and configured to supply the particle accelerator with a plurality of voltage pulses, wherein the particle accelerator is operable to accelerate the charged particles based on the plurality of voltage pulses, and to produce an output beam comprising one or more radiation pulses for radiotherapy,
• wherein the photoconductive switch includes a doped crystalline material that is configured to receive a voltage from an energy source to establish an electric field across the doped crystalline material, and
• wherein the photoconductive switch is configured to receive light from a light source and to operate in response to the received light, the photoconductive switch being operable in a linear mode of operation in response to the received light,
• wherein the accelerator system is operable to:
• produce output radiation pulses with an instantaneous dose rate that exceeds 1.8×105 Gy/s,
• administer a totality of the output radiation pulses that constitute a required dose in less than 200 ms,
• produce the output radiation pulses with an average dose rate greater than 100 Gy/s, and
• irradiate an entirety of a target region with levels above both the instantaneous dose rate and the average dose rate.