PRIOR - Proton Microscope for FAIR

High energy proton microscopy (HEPM) or radiography is a novel technique for probing the interior of dense objects in static or dynamic experiments by mono-energetic beams of GeV-energy protons. A special system of magnetic lenses is employed for imaging and aberration corrections. Using this technique, one can measure the areal density distribution of a thick sample with sub-percent accuracy, micrometer-scale spatial and nanosecond-scale temporal resolutions. HEPM is of considerable interest for dense plasma physics, materials research, biophysics and medicine. The PRIOR (Proton Microscope for FAIR) facility will use 1 - 10 GeV intense proton beams from SIS-18 or SIS-100 synchrotrons and will allow for a significant step forward in spatial (~ 10-15 µm) and temporal (~ 5-10 ns) resolution. In 2014, a PRIOR prototype has been constructed and successfully commissioned at the HHT area of GSI in static and dynamic experiments with intense proton beams from SIS-18. The status of the PRIOR project and the first obtained results with the PRIOR prototype are discussed. Recently, a new project called PaNTERA (Proton Therapy and Radiography), which exploits the HEPM technique for image-guided stereotactic particle radiosurgery, has been launched. The first results of several experiments with HEPM setups at ITEP and at LANL on imaging biological and tissue-equivalent targets with 800 MeV protons as well as the first CT images with high-energy protons are presented.