Figure 1

The IST nuclear microprobe schematic (not on scale) including the external beam setup used for cell irradiation. Object slits (OS); collimation slits (CS); magnetic quadrupole triplet (Q-lenses); focus plane inside the irradiation chamber (vacuum) and in-air (\(S_{1}\)) and (\(S_{2}\)), respectively; scanning coils (SC); exit nozzle (n) supporting a vacuum tight extraction window (\(\mathit{My}_{n}\)). The schematic of the setup for cell irradiation in air represents one unit well of a typical 96-well plate for cell culture. In the used experimental configuration, the extracted \(^{1} H^{+}\) beam encountered the cell monolayer (c) after traversing the air path and a Mylar foil (\(\mathit{My}_{p}\)) which covers the cell culture plate