TY - JOUR
T1 - Calculations and measurements of the scintillator-to-water stopping power ratio of liquid scintillators for use in proton radiotherapy
AU - Scott Ingram, W.
AU - Robertson, Daniel
AU - Beddar, Sam
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/3/11
Y1 - 2015/3/11
N2 - Liquid scintillators are a promising detector for high-resolution three-dimensional proton therapy dosimetry. Because the scintillator comprises both the active volume of the detector and the phantom material, an ideal scintillator will exhibit water equivalence in its radiological properties. One of the most fundamental of these is the scintillator's stopping power. The objective of this study was to compare calculations and measurements of scintillator-to-water stopping power ratios to evaluate the suitability of the liquid scintillators BC-531 and OptiPhase HiSafe 3 for proton dosimetry. We also measured the relative scintillation output of the two scintillators. Both calculations and measurements show that the linear stopping power of OptiPhase is significantly closer to water than that of BC-531. BC-531 has a somewhat higher scintillation output. OptiPhase can be mixed with water at high concentrations, which further improves its scintillator-to-water stopping power ratio. However, this causes the solution to become cloudy, which has a negative impact on the scintillation output and spatial resolution of the detector. OptiPhase is preferred over BC-531 for proton dosimetry because its density and scintillator-to-water stopping power ratio are more water equivalent.
AB - Liquid scintillators are a promising detector for high-resolution three-dimensional proton therapy dosimetry. Because the scintillator comprises both the active volume of the detector and the phantom material, an ideal scintillator will exhibit water equivalence in its radiological properties. One of the most fundamental of these is the scintillator's stopping power. The objective of this study was to compare calculations and measurements of scintillator-to-water stopping power ratios to evaluate the suitability of the liquid scintillators BC-531 and OptiPhase HiSafe 3 for proton dosimetry. We also measured the relative scintillation output of the two scintillators. Both calculations and measurements show that the linear stopping power of OptiPhase is significantly closer to water than that of BC-531. BC-531 has a somewhat higher scintillation output. OptiPhase can be mixed with water at high concentrations, which further improves its scintillator-to-water stopping power ratio. However, this causes the solution to become cloudy, which has a negative impact on the scintillation output and spatial resolution of the detector. OptiPhase is preferred over BC-531 for proton dosimetry because its density and scintillator-to-water stopping power ratio are more water equivalent.
KW - Liquid scintillators
KW - Proton therapy
KW - SRIM
KW - Scintillation dosimetry
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84920167103&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84920167103&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.nima.2014.12.004
DO - 10.1016/j.nima.2014.12.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 25705066
AN - SCOPUS:84920167103
SN - 0168-9002
VL - 776
SP - 15
EP - 20
JO - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
JF - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
ER -