Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method for delivering therapeutic radiation to a target volume of a subject, wherein the target volume is located at a predetermined depth, the predetermined depth being measured from an irradiated portion of a surface of the skin of the subject, the method comprising:selecting a species of light ions for forming an array of minibeams directed at the target volume based on the predetermined depth;selecting a predetermined energy of the species of light ions for confining the therapeutic radiation within the target volume such that the Bragg peak corresponding to the predetermined energy of the species is at a distal side of the target volume;delivering the therapeutic radiation to the target volume, including:forming the array of minibeams directed at the target volume, the minibeams comprising the species of light ions at the predetermined energy, andirradiating a portion of the surface of the skin with the array, the array comprising parallel, spatially distinct minibeams at the surface of the skin in an amount and spatially arranged and sized to maintain a tissue-sparing effect from the surface of the skin to a proximal edge of the target volume and to merge into a solid beam at the proximal edge of the target volume, wherein the species of light ions is selected such that the minibeams broaden and merge into the solid beam at the proximal edge of the target volume to deliver a therapeutic dose of radiation to at least a portion of the target volume; andwherein forming the array further includes selecting a gap between adjacent minibeams in the array to maintain the solid beam at the predetermined energy of the species of light ions at the proximal edge. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of delivering the therapeutic dose further includes spreading the Bragg-peak of the light ions forming the minibeams by stepwise lowering the predetermined energy of the light ions across a range of energies to produce a uniform dose distribution throughout the target volume, and wherein the step of selecting the gap includes selecting the gap for which the solid beam is maintained at the proximal edge for each of the energies across the range of energies. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the energies of the light ions forming the minibeams are between about 10 MeV and 1000 MeV per nucleon. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the light ions forming the minibeams are protons. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the array of minibeams is a two-dimensional array of pencil minibeams. 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising shaping a cross-section of the two-dimensional array to substantially match a cross-sectional shape of the target volume. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the species of light ions forming the minibeams are selected from the group consisting of deuterons and ions of helium, lithium, beryllium, and boron. 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a light ion source and a collimator downstream of the light ion source for forming the array of minibeams on the surface, wherein the gap between the adjacent beams is adjusted by adjusting a spacing of slits in the collimator. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the collimator is spaced apart from the surface of the skin. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein a width of each of the minibeams at the surface is between 0.1 mm and 0.6 mm. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the width is about 0.3 mm. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein a cross-sectional profile of the minibeams is one of a circular, square, rectangular, elliptical, and polygonal shape. 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the gap between the minibeams is between about 0.1 mm and about 3.0 mm. 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the gap between the minibeams is between about 0.1 mm and about 1.0 mm. 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the array of minibeams is a one-dimensional array of planar minibeams. 16. The method of claim 1, further comprising additionally performing the steps of selecting a species of light ions, selecting a predetermined energy, and delivering the therapeutic radiation from a second direction, a second portion of the surface of the skin being irradiated from the second direction, the predetermined depth of the target volume being measured from the second portion of the skin. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of delivering the therapeutic dose from the second direction further includes spreading the Bragg-peak of the selected light ions forming the minibeams on the second portion of the skin by stepwise lowering the predetermined energy across a range of energies to produce a uniform dose distribution throughout the target volume, and wherein the gap between adjacent minibeams of an array irradiating the second portion is selected to maintain a solid beam at a proximal edge relative to the second direction for each of the energies across the range of energies. 18. A method for delivering therapeutic light ion radiation to a target volume of a subject, wherein the target volume is located at a predetermined depth, the predetermined depth being measured from an irradiated portion of the skin of the subject, the method comprising:irradiating a portion of a surface of the skin with an array of light ion minibeams comprising parallel, spatially distinct minibeams at the surface in an amount and spatially arranged and sized to maintain a tissue-sparing effect from the surface of the skin to a proximal side of the target volume, and to merge into a solid beam at the proximal side of the target volume; andwherein a gap between adjacent parallel, spatially distinct minibeams at the surface and a species of light ions forming the minibeams are selected based on a depth of the target volume from the surface. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein a species of light ions forming the light ion minibeams is selected from the group consisting of protons, deuterons, and ions of helium, lithium, beryllium, and boron. 20. The method of claim 19, the method further comprising spreading the Bragg-peak of the species of light ions forming the minibeams by stepwise adjusting the predetermined energy of the light ions across a range of energies to produce a uniform dose distribution throughout the target volume, and wherein the species of light ions and the gap are selected so that the minibeams broaden and merge into the solid beam at the proximal side for each of the energies across the range of energies.