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Prototype system for proton beam range measurement based on gamma electron vertex imaging

Prototype system for proton beam range measurement based on gamma electron vertex imaging

Authors :
Chan Hyeong Kim
Jong Hoon Park
Han Rim Lee
Sung Hun Kim
Won Gyun Jung
Hansang Lim
Source :
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 857:82-97
Publication Year :
2017
Publisher :
Elsevier BV, 2017.

Abstract

In proton therapy, for both therapeutic effectiveness and patient safety, it is very important to accurately measure the proton dose distribution, especially the range of the proton beam. For this purpose, recently we proposed a new imaging method named gamma electron vertex imaging (GEVI), in which the prompt gammas emitting from the nuclear reactions of the proton beam in the patient are converted to electrons, and then the converted electrons are tracked to determine the vertices of the prompt gammas, thereby producing a 2D image of the vertices. In the present study, we developed a prototype GEVI system, including dedicated signal processing and data acquisition systems, which consists of a beryllium plate (= electron converter) to convert the prompt gammas to electrons, two double-sided silicon strip detectors (= hodoscopes) to determine the trajectories of those converted electrons, and a plastic scintillation detector (= calorimeter) to measure their kinetic energies. The system uses triple coincidence logic and multiple energy windows to select only the events from prompt gammas. The detectors of the prototype GEVI system were evaluated for electronic noise level, energy resolution, and time resolution. Finally, the imaging capability of the GEVI system was tested by imaging a 90 Sr beta source, a 60 Co gamma source, and a 45-MeV proton beam in a PMMA phantom. The overall results of the present study generally show that the prototype GEVI system can image the vertices of the prompt gammas produced by the proton nuclear interactions.

Details

ISSN :
01689002
Volume :
857
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........1ad3092433864bf4f87cb7cc29f6ce2e
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.03.022