Characterization of a scintillating fiber-optic dosimeter for photon beam therapy

The thermoluminescence characteristics and the glow curves of Thulium doped silica fiber exposed to 10MV photon and 21MeV electron radiation

“…Optical fiber based sensors are promising devices to be used in radiation dosimetry such as in the measurement of the absorbed dose in radiotherapy (Jang et al, 2009) and brachytherapy (Suchowerska et al, 2007), radiation dosimetry in computed tomography (Jones and Hintenlang, 2008), distributed radiation dosimetry for beta and gamma rays, and neutrons (Naka et al, 2001).…”

An Optical Fibre-Based Sensor for Real-Time Monitoring of Clinical Linear Accelerator Radiotherapy Delivery

“…Typically, X-Ray scintillator materials are characterized by a rapid decay time, being of the order of a few 10s of nanoseconds [4] Radiation dosimetry deals with methods for a quantitative determination of the energy deposited in a given medium by R direct or indirect ionizing radiation. Radiation induced optical attenuation [5,6] or using the detection of Cerenkov radiation/ fluorescence/ radioluminescence [7][8][9], or extrinsic optical fibre technology, employing different ionizing radiation to optical radiation convertors [10][11][12], has been the focus of much research in recent years. Many different types of light scintillating materials as well as many different methods of using these materials have been widely published [13][14][15][16][17].…”

Optical Fibers and Optical Fiber Sensors Used in Radiation Monitoring

“…Upon irradiation, such scintillating crystals can exhibit an increase of the optical absorption, a decrease of the sensitivity, post irradiation phosphorescence (afterglow), a change of the spatial uniformity of their response to radiation. Similar investigations were done on other inorganic scintillators such as: BGO -Bi 4 Ge 3 O 12 , GSO -Gd 2 SiO 5 , CWO -CdWO 5 (Seo et al, 2009). A comparison between an inorganic scintillating material (Al 2 O 3 :C) and an organic scitillator (BCF-12) reveals their advantages and drawbacks (Beierholm et al, 2009): a. phosphorescence following the irradiation is present in Al2O3:C; b. as charge carriers are trapped during the irradiation, Al2O3:C exhibits a memory effect making it suitable for OSL sensors production; c. Al2O3:C has a higher sensitivity than the organic scintillator, but this parameter changes increases with the total dose; d. Al2O3:C is sensitive to temperature; e. the temporal response constitute an advantage for BCF-12 material (3.2 ns luminescence life time) as compared to 35 ms for Al 2 O 3 :C. Another design of an extrinsic optical fiber radiation detector is based on a phosphorescent tip fixed at the end of a POF.…”

“…The possible applications of optical fibers and the optical fiber sensors in radiation monitoring and dosimetry refer to: 1. measurement of the absorbed dose in radiotherapy (Andersen et al, 2002;Jang et al, 2009;Justus et al, 2006) and brachytherapy (Suchowerska et al, 2007); 2. spatial dose distribution in the case of linear electron and proton accelerators for medical treatment Jang et al, 2010a;Lee et al, 2007a); 3. evaluation of beam losses (dose rate, total dose, location) in particle accelerators Intermite et al, 2009;Wulf & Körfer, 2009), beam profiling (Wulf & Körfer, 2009), and the operating conditions of an electron storage ring (Bahrdt et al, 2009;Rüdiger et al, 2008); 4. synchrotron radiation beam profile diagnostics (Byrd et al, 2007 ;Chen et al, 1996); 5. neutron or mixed gamma-ray neutron dosimetry (Bartesaghi et al, 2007a;Jang et al, 2010b); 6. the investigation of isotopic composition of cosmic rays (Connell et al, 1990); 7. radiation dosimetry in computed tomography (Jones & Hintenlang, 2008;Moloney, 2008); 8. distributed radiation dosimetry for beta & gamma rays, and neutrons (Naka et al, 2001); 9. beam profile in the case of free electron lasers (Goettmann et al, 2007) or proton beams (Benoit et al, 2007); 10. remote monitoring of ground water or soil for radioactive contamination (Jones et al, 1993); 11. radiation protection and monitoring of nuclear installations (Magne et al, 2008); 12. monitoring of radioactive waste (Nishiura & Izumi, 2001); 13. reconstruction of the charge particle tracks (Adinolfi et al, 1991;Angelini et al, 1989;Atkinson et al, 1988;Mommaert, 1992;Nakajima et al, 2009 ;Yukihara et al, 2006); 14. the use as transfer detectors for dosimetric calibrations …”

“…The amount of the collected optical radiation varied linearly with the dose rate up to 900 cGy/min. The system, acting as a real time instrument, provides within a small volume, high resolution, water equivalent readings, without the need of temperature, humidity or pressure correction (Jang et al, 2009). A similar detecting optical set-up was used to build a 1D array of sensors for high energy proton beam profiling, with scintillating tips spaced 1 cm and respectively 0.5 cm apart, and the light detection with a 10 channel photodiode array (Lee et al, 2007a).…”