• Energy Research

This study was initiated following conclusions from earlier experimental work, performed in a low-energy carbon ion beam, indicating a significant LET dependence of the response of a PTW-60019 microDiamond detector. The purpose of this paper is to present a comparison between the response of the same PTW-60019 microDiamond detector and an IBA Roos-type ionization chamber as a function of depth in a 62MeV proton beam. Even though proton beams are considered as low linear energy transfer (LET) beams, the LET value increases slightly in the Bragg peak region. Contrary to the observations made in the carbon ion beam, in the 62MeV proton beam good agreement is found between both detectors in both the plateau and the distal edge region. No significant LET dependent response of the PTW-60019 microDiamond detector is observed consistent with other findings for proton beams in the literature, despite this particular detector exhibiting a substantial LET dependence in a carbon ion beam.

Dosimetry using a PMMA phantom was performed in 15 and 29 MeV proton beams from the Birmingham cyclotron, with a Markus parallel-plate ionization chamber and GafChromic EBT and MD-V2-55 film. Simulations of the depth-dose curves were performed with FLUKA 2008.3 and MCNPX 2.5.0, which agreed almost perfectly with each other in range and only differed by 2% in the Bragg peak (BP) region. FLUKA was also used to calculate k(Q) factors for Markus chamber measurements as an improvement to the IAEA TRS-398 values in low-energy beams. FLUKA depth-dose simulations overestimate the BP height measured by ion chamber by about 10%, where the initial proton energy spread was estimated by fitting to the slope of the measured BP distal edge. Both GafChromic films showed an under-response in the BP compared to ion chamber; however, EBT exhibits this effect at lower energies than MD-V2-55. A possible reason for this is attributed to the shape and arrangement of the monomer particles being different in the active components of EBT and MD-V2-55. Relative effectiveness (RE) of both films is presented as functions of residual range R(res) in water and peak proton energy determined by FLUKA, with considerations for the spatial separation of the two active layers in each film. The proton energies at which RE reduces to 90% of maximum film response are 6.7 and 3.2 MeV for MD-V2-55 and EBT, respectively. Additionally, a beam quality correction factor (g(Q,Q0)) is suggested for both GafChromic films, involving water-to-film stopping power ratios evaluated using ICRU recommendations, and a polymer yield factor G(Q0)/G(Q). RE in this work is equated to the reciprocal of the polymer yield factor. The calculated values of (S(w,film))Q/(S(w,film))Q0 are constant within 2.1% and 1.2% across the proton energy range of 1-300 MeV for EBT and MD-V2-55, respectively, so it is concluded that the polymer yield factor is the dominant factor causing the LET quenching effect.

To investigate the linear energy transfer (LET) dependence of the response of a PTW-60019 Freiburg microDiamond detector, its response was compared to the response of a plane-parallel Markus chamber in a 62 MeV/n mono-energetic carbon ion beam. Results obtained with two different experimental setups are in agreement. As recommended by IAEA TRS-398, the response of the Markus chamber was corrected for temperature, pressure, polarity effects and ion recombination. No correction was applied to the response of the microDiamond detector. The ratio of the response of the Markus chamber to the response of the microDiamond is close to unity in the plateau region. In the Bragg peak region, a significant increase of the ratio is observed, which increases to 1.2 in the distal edge region. Results indicate a correlation between the under-response of the microDiamond detector and high LET values. The combined relative standard uncertainty of the results is estimated to be 2.38% in the plateau region and 12% in the distal edge region. These values are dominated by the uncertainty of alignment in the non-uniform beam and the uncertainty of range determination.

Based on international reference dosimetry protocols for light-ion beams, a correction factor (k s) has to be applied to the response of a plane-parallel ionisation chamber, to account for recombination of negative and positive charges in its air cavity before these charges can be collected on the electrodes. In this work, k s for IBA PPC40 Roos-type chambers is investigated in four scanned light-ion beams (proton, helium, carbon and oxygen). To take into account the high dose-rates used with scanned beams and LET-values, experimental results are compared to a model combining two theories. One theory, developed by Jaffé, describes the variation of k s with the ionization density within the ion track (initial recombination) and the other theory, developed by Boag, describes the variation of k s with the dose rate (volume recombination). Excellent agreement is found between experimental and theoretical k s-values. All results confirm that k s cannot be neglected. The solution to minimise k s is to use the ionisation chamber at high voltage. However, one must be aware that charge multiplication may complicate the interpretation of the measurement. For the chamber tested, it was found that a voltage of 300 V can be used without further complication. As the initial recombination has a logarithmic variation as a function of 1/V, the two-voltage method is not applicable to these scanned beams.

PurposeThe dose response of Gafchromic EBT3 films exposed to proton beams depends on the dose, and additionally on the beam quality, which is often quantified with the linear energy transfer (LET) and, hence, also referred to as LET quenching. Fundamentally different methods to determine correction factors for this LET quenching effect have been reported in literature and a new method using the local proton fluence distribution differential in LET is presented. This method was exploited to investigate whether a more practical correction based on the dose‐ or fluence‐averaged LET is feasible in a variety of clinically possible beam arrangements.MethodsThe relative effectiveness (RE) was characterized within a high LET spread‐out Bragg peak (SOBP) in water made up by the six lowest available energies (62.4–67.5 MeV, configuration “”) resulting in one of the highest clinically feasible dose‐averaged LET distributions. Additionally, two beams were measured where a low LET proton beam (252.7 MeV) was superimposed on “”, which contributed either 50% of the initial particle fluence or 50% of the dose in the SOBP, referred to as configuration “” and “,” respectively. The proton LET spectrum was simulated with GATE/Geant4 at all measurement positions. The net optical density change differential in LET was integrated over the local proton spectrum to calculate the net optical density and therefrom the beam quality correction factor. The LET dependence of the film response was accounted for by an LET dependence of one of the three parameters in the calibration function and was determined from inverse optimization using measurement “.” This method was then validated on the measurements of “” and “” and subsequently used to calculate the RE at 900 positions in nine clinically relevant beams. The extrapolated RE set was used to derive a simple linear correction function based on dose‐averaged LET () and verify the validity in all points of the comprehensive RE set.ResultsThe uncorrected film dose deviated up to 26% from the reference dose, whereas the corrected film dose agreed within 3% in all three beams in water (“”, “” and “”). The LET dependence of the calibration function started to strongly increase around 5 keV/μm and flatten out around 30 keV/μm. All REs calculated from the proton fluence in the nine simulated beams could be approximated with a linear function of dose‐averaged LET (RE = 1.0258−0.0211 μm/keV ). However, no functional relationship of RE‐ and fluence‐averaged LET could be found encompassing all beam energies and modulations.ConclusionsThe film quenching was found to be nonlinear as a function of proton LET as well as of the dose‐averaged LET. However, the linear relation of RE on dose‐averaged LET was a good approximation in all cases. In contrast to dose‐averaged LET, fluence‐averaged LET could not describe the RE when multiple beams were applied.

PurposeIn this work, the LET‐dependence of the response of synthetic diamond detectors is investigated in different particle beams.MethodMeasurements were performed in three nonmodulated particle beams (proton, carbon, and oxygen). The response of five synthetic diamond detectors was compared to the response of a Markus or an Advanced Markus ionization chamber. The synthetic diamond detectors were used with their axis parallel to the beam axis and without any bias voltage. A high bias voltage was applied to the ionization chambers, to minimize ion recombination, for which no correction is applied (+300 V and +400 V were applied to the Markus and Advanced Markus ionization chambers respectively).ResultsThe ratio between the normalized response of the synthetic diamond detectors and the normalized response of the ionization chamber shows an under‐response of the synthetic diamond detectors in carbon and oxygen ion beams. No under‐response of the synthetic diamond detectors is observed in protons. For each beam, combining results obtained for the five synthetic diamond detectors and considering the uncertainties, a linear fit of the ratio between the normalized response of the synthetic diamond detectors and the normalized response of the ionization chamber is determined. The response of the synthetic diamond detectors can be described as a function of LET as (−6.22E‐4 ± 3.17E‐3) • LET + (0.99 ± 0.01) in proton beam, (−2.51E‐4 ± 1.18E‐4) • LET + (1.01 ± 0.01) in carbon ion beam and (−2.77E‐4 ± 0.56E‐4) • LET + (1.03 ± 0.01) in oxygen ion beam. Combining results obtained in carbon and oxygen ion beams, a LET dependence of about 0.026% (±0.013%) per keV/μm is estimated.ConclusionsDue to the high LET value, a LET dependence of the response of the synthetic diamond detector was observed in the case of carbon and oxygen beams. The effect was found to be negligible in proton beams, due to the low LET value. The under‐response of the synthetic diamond detector may result from the recombination of electron/hole in the thin synthetic diamond layer, due to the high LET‐values. More investigations are required to confirm this assumption.