Extended calibration range for prompt photon emission in ion beam irradiation

TL;DR

This paper develops a calibration method for prompt photon emission detection in ion beam therapy, improving the accuracy of dose monitoring by enhancing detector calibration and simulation agreement.

Contribution

It introduces a new calibration technique for high-energy gamma detection and reanalyzes carbon ion interactions to improve Monte Carlo model accuracy.

Findings

Enhanced agreement between experimental data and FLUKA simulations.

Improved understanding of gamma production in ion therapy.

Extended calibration range for prompt photon detection.

Abstract

Monitoring the dose delivered during proton and carbon ion therapy is still a matter of research. Among the possible solutions, several exploit the measurement of the single photon emission from nuclear decays induced by the irradiation. To fully characterize such emission the detectors need development, since the energy spectrum spans the range above the MeV that is not traditionally used in medical applications. On the other hand, a deeper understanding of the reactions involving gamma production is needed in order to improve the physic models of Monte Carlo codes, relevant for an accurate prediction of the prompt-gamma energy spectrum.This paper describes a calibration technique tailored for the range of energy of interest and reanalyzes the data of the interaction of a 80MeV/u fully stripped carbon ion beam with a Poly-methyl methacrylate target. By adopting the FLUKA simulation with the appropriate calibration and resolution a significant improvement in the agreement between data and simulation is reported.