Status and possibilities of the time-of-flight measurement technique using long scintillation counters with a small cross section (Review)

Rabin, Neta

doi:10.1134/s0020441207050016

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 113 publications

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“…[8][9][10][11] The proposed detector assesses the mean energy of clinical proton beams by measuring the protons' Time of Flight (ToF), that is, the time needed by single protons to travel a known distance between two sensors. The ToF is a well-known technique that found several applications in the last decades, 11 from nuclear physics 12 to proton radiography, [13][14][15] from the measurement of the kinetic energy of cyclotron and LINAC proton beams up to 30 MeV, 16,17 to the reconstruction of the proton energy spectrum of high-energy laser-driven beams. 18 The first system prototype proposed by the University and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) of Turin, Italy, and its test on clinical beams are described in detail in previous work, 11 and will be rapidly summarized in the following.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The proposed detector assesses the mean energy of clinical proton beams by measuring the protons’ Time of Flight (ToF), that is, the time needed by single protons to travel a known distance between two sensors. The ToF is a well‐known technique that found several applications in the last decades, 11 from nuclear physics 12 to proton radiography, 13–15 from the measurement of the kinetic energy of cyclotron and LINAC proton beams up to 30 MeV, 16,17 to the reconstruction of the proton energy spectrum of high‐energy laser‐driven beams 18 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Calibration method and performance of a time‐of‐flight detector to measure absolute beam energy in proton therapy

et al. 2023

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BackgroundThe beam energy is one of the most significant parameters in particle therapy since it is directly correlated to the particles’ penetration depth inside the patient. Nowadays, the range accuracy is guaranteed by offline routine quality control checks mainly performed with water phantoms, 2D detectors with PMMA wedges, or multi‐layer ionization chambers. The latter feature low sensitivity, slow collection time, and response dependent on external parameters, which represent limiting factors for the quality controls of beams delivered with fast energy switching modalities, as foreseen in future treatments. In this context, a device based on solid‐state detectors technology, able to perform a direct and absolute beam energy measurement, is proposed as a viable alternative for quality assurance measurements and beam commissioning, paving the way for online range monitoring and treatment verification.PurposeThis work follows the proof of concept of an energy monitoring system for clinical proton beams, based on Ultra Fast Silicon Detectors (featuring tenths of ps time resolution in 50 μm active thickness, and single particle detection capability) and time‐of‐flight techniques. An upgrade of such a system is presented here, together with the description of a dedicated self‐calibration method, proving that this second prototype is able to assess the mean particles energy of a monoenergetic beam without any constraint on the beam temporal structure, neither any a priori knowledge of the beam energy for the calibration of the system.MethodsA new detector geometry, consisting of sensors segmented in strips, has been designed and implemented in order to enhance the statistics of coincident protons, thus improving the accuracy of the measured time differences. The prototype was tested on the cyclotron proton beam of the Trento Protontherapy Center (TPC). In addition, a dedicated self‐calibration method, exploiting the measurement of monoenergetic beams crossing the two telescope sensors for different flight distances, was introduced to remove the systematic uncertainties independently from any external reference.ResultsThe novel calibration strategy was applied to the experimental data collected at TPC (Trento) and CNAO (Pavia). Deviations between measured and reference beam energies in the order of a few hundreds of keV with a maximum uncertainty of 0.5 MeV were found, in compliance with the clinically required water range accuracy of 1 mm.ConclusionsThe presented version of the telescope system, minimally perturbative of the beam, relies on a few seconds of acquisition time to achieve the required clinical accuracy and therefore represents a feasible solution for beam commission, quality assurance checks, and online beam energy monitoring.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calibration method and performance of a time‐of‐flight detector to measure absolute beam energy in proton therapy

et al. 2023

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“…A standard method used to measure the energy of particles of a monoenergetic beam consists in measuring the average Time of Flight (ToF) needed to travel a known distance between two sensors, thus obtaining the average velocity and kinetic energy (21). However, a detector suitable to measure the energy of clinical proton beams using ToF techniques should face several challenges, such as the required time resolution and the radiation hardness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The measurement of the time of flight (ToF), i.e. the measurement of the time needed by a particle to travel a known distance between two sensors, is a well-established technique in nuclear physics to determine the particle velocity and help identifying the particle type (Atwood 1980, Rabin 2007. It has been also applied to measure the kinetic energy of cyclotron proton beams by using pick-up probes along the beam transport system (Kormány 1994, Kisieliński andWojtkowska 2007) with an accuracy of the order of 2%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%