Development of a novel multi-point plastic scintillation detector with a single optical transmission line for radiation dose measurement

Phys Med Biol. 2012 Nov 7;57(21):7147-59. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/57/21/7147. Epub 2012 Oct 12.

Abstract

The goal of this study was to develop a novel multi-point plastic scintillation detector (mPSD) capable of measuring the dose accurately at multiple positions simultaneously using a single optical transmission line. A 2-point mPSD used a band-pass approach that included splitters, color filters and an EMCCD camera. The 3-point mPSD was based on a new full-spectrum approach, in which a spectrograph was coupled to a CCD camera. Irradiations of the mPSDs and of an ion chamber were performed with a 6 MV photon beam at various depths and lateral positions in a water tank. For the 2-point mPSD, the average relative differences between mPSD and ion chamber measurements for the depth-dose were 2.4±1.6% and 1.3±0.8% for BCF-60 and BCF-12, respectively. For the 3-point mPSD, the average relative differences over all conditions were 2.3±1.1%, 1.6±0.4% and 0.32±0.19% for BCF-60, BCF-12 and BCF-10, respectively. This study demonstrates the practical feasibility of mPSDs. This type of detector could be very useful for pre-treatment quality assurance applications as well as an accurate tool for real-time in vivo dosimetry.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Feasibility Studies
  • Optical Phenomena*
  • Plastics*
  • Radiation Dosage*
  • Scintillation Counting / instrumentation*

Substances

  • Plastics