Use of radiochromic films for the absolute dose evaluation in high dose-rate proton beams

Transforming an IORT Linac Into a FLASH Research Machine: Procedure and Dosimetric Characterization

“…The geometric and dosimetric characterization of the beams was obtained through the use of Gafchromic EBT3 radiochromic films; EBT3 films were chosen because of their excellent spatial resolution, energy independence above hundreds of keV [25] and dose-per-pulse independence [21,22,24]. Good levels of accuracy in measuring absolute dose could also be reached provided that a rigorous protocol is established [35].…”

“…Such configurations were characterized by means of Gafchromic EBT3 films [20]. EBT3 were chosen because of their excellent spatial resolution, dose-rate (dose-per-pulse) independence [21][22][23][24] and energy independence for photon and electron beams above hundreds of keV [21,25].…”

“…Few studies investigated the dose-rate and dose-per-pulse dependence of radiochromic films [21,22,24]; however they all agree in reporting small or negligible dependence in their response with respect to both variables. At the dose-rate values of conventional clinical linacs, with a dose-per-pulse up to 1 × 10 −3 Gy/pulse, Borca et al [21] reported, for EBT3 radiochromic film, a dose-rate dependence in the range of 0.1-0.6 Gy/min within 1% for 6 and 15 MV photon beams.…”

ELIMED-ELIMAIA: The First Open User Irradiation Beamline for Laser-Plasma-Accelerated Ion Beams

“…They can be used both as a single detector, to precisely measure the transversal dose distributions profiles, or in stack configuration, in order to obtain information on the energy of the accelerated protons through an iterative procedure based on deconvolution methods (see section 2.4). The use of RCF films, if properly calibrated, also allows for an accurate measurement of the released dose distributions at the irradiation point with a spatial resolution less than 200 µm [24]. Solid state nuclear track detectors (CR-39 type) will also be used, representing a useful tool for charged particle fluences and spectroscopic analysis by measuring the track diameter arising from incident particles and extracting the corresponding energy from a suitable calibration curve [25].…”

Radiochromic Films for the Two-Dimensional Dose Distribution Assessment

“…As an example, RCFs are used for this purpose, as well as for the accurate beam characterization in studies of the radiation damage for high energy physics and spatial applications at the 18 MeV cyclotron in operation at the Bern University Hospital (Inselspital) [31,42,43]. The independence of RCFs on the dose rate resulted in their application in ultra-high dose beam diagnostics studies, such as laser-plasma proton beams and FLASH radiotherapy [44][45][46][47]. In addition to the conventional two-dimensional dose distribution measurements, stacks of RCFs have been successfully used to measure energy spectra in these challenging applications [48].…”