Lead-doped scintillator dosimeters for detection of ultrahigh dose-rate x-rays
Date
2022-05-11
Authors
Hart, Alexander
Cecchi, Daniel
Giguère, Cloé
Larose, Frédérique
Therriault-Proulx, François
Esplen, Nolan
Beaulieu, Luc
Bazalova-Carter, Magdalena
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Physics in Medicine & Biology
Abstract
Objective. Lead-doped scintillator dosimeters may be well suited for the dosimetry of FLASH-capable x-ray radiotherapy beams. Our study explores the dose rate dependence and temporal resolution of scintillators that makes them promising in the accurate detection of ultrahigh dose-rate (UHDR) x-rays. Approach. We investigated the response of scintillators with four material compositions to UHDR x-rays produced by a conventional x-ray tube. Scintillator output was measured using the HYPERSCINT-RP100 dosimetry research platform. Measurements were acquired at high frame rates (400 fps) which allowed for accurate dose measurements of sub-second radiation exposures from 1 to 100 ms. Dose-rate dependence was assessed by scaling tube current of the x-ray tube. Scintillator measurements were validated against Monte Carlo simulations of the probe geometries and UHDR x-ray system. Calibration factors converting dose-to-medium to dose-to-water were obtained from simulation data of plastic and lead-doped scintillator materials. Main Results. The results of this work suggest that lead-doped scintillators were dose-rate independent for UHDR x-rays from 1.1 to 40.1 Gy s−1 and capable of measuring conventional radiotherapy dose-rates (0.1 Gy s−1) at extended distance from the x-ray focal spot. Dose-to-water measured with a 5% lead-doped scintillator detector agreed with simulations within 0.6%. Significance. Lead-doped scintillators may be a valuable tool for the accurate real-time dosimetry of FLASH-capable UHDR x-ray beams.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Hart, A., Cecchi, D., Giguère, C., Larose, F., Therriault-Proulx, F., Esplen, N., Beaulieu, L., & Bazalova-Carter, M. (2022). Lead-doped scintillator dosimeters for detection of ultrahigh dose-rate x-rays. Physics in Medicine & Biology, 67(10), 105007. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6560/ac69a5