(Wednesday, 7/15/2020) 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM [Eastern Time (GMT-4)]
Room: Track 3
Purpose: To characterize the optical and dosimetric properties of the storage phosphor europium doped potassium chloride for quantitative proton dosimetry.
Methods: Cylindrical KCl:Eu2+ dosimeters with dimensions of 6 mm diameter and 1 mm thickness were fabricated in-house. The dosimeters were irradiated using both a Mevion S250 passive scattering proton therapy system and a Varian linear accelerator. Optical properties including photostimulated luminescence (PSL) emission spectra, excitation spectra, and luminescence lifetimes were measured for both proton and photon irradiations. Dosimetric properties including radiation hardness, dose linearity, signal stabilization, dose rate sensitivity, and energy dependence were studied using a laboratory optical reader after irradiations.
Results: KCl:Eu2+ exhibited optical emission and stimulation peaks at 421 and 560 nm, respectively, for both proton and photon irradiations, enabling post-irradiation readouts using a visible light source while detecting the PSL using a photomultiplier tube. KCl:Eu2+ showed a linear response from 0 to 8 Gy absorbed dose-to-water, a large dynamic range up to 60 Gy, dose-rate independence measured from 83 to 500 MU/min, and a PSL lifetime of less than 5 microseconds that is sufficiently short for supporting rapid scanning in a two-dimensional geometry. KCl:Eu2+ was highly reusable with only a slight signal decrease of ~3% at accumulated doses over 100 Gy, which could be managed by a periodic recalibration using a known dose. Comparisons of depth-dose measurements in a spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) field with a parallel-plate ionization chamber showed no clear evidence of LET effects. Furthermore, range measurements agreed with ionization chamber measurements to within 1 mm.
Conclusions: KCl:Eu2+ showed linear response over a large dynamic range for proton irradiations and reliably reproduced SOBP measurements. Its relatively low atomic number and near LET independence make it suitable for quantitative proton dosimetry. In addition, its high radiation hardness means that it can be reused numerous times.
Keywords
Taxonomy
TH- Radiation Dose Measurement Devices: Development (new technology and techniques)
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