TY - JOUR
T1 - Linear energy transfer dependence of Al2O3:C optically stimulated luminescence detectors exposed to therapeutic proton beams
AU - Granville, Dal A.
AU - Sahoo, Narayan
AU - Sawakuchi, Gabriel O.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/12
Y1 - 2014/12
N2 - Currently, there are no radiation detectors that can be used for routine measurements of linear energy transfer (LET) in particle therapy clinics. In this work, we characterized the LET dependence of Al2O3:C optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) detectors (OSLDs) exposed to therapeutic proton beams in order to evaluate their potential for clinical LET measurements. We evaluated OSLDs that were irradiated with an absorbed dose to water of 0.2 Gy in therapeutic proton beams with average energies ranging between approximately 25 MeV and 200 MeV, resulting in LET in water values between 0.45 and 2.29 keV/μm. We examined two properties of the OSL emission signal in terms of LET dependence: the signal intensities of the blue and ultraviolet (UV) emission bands, and the shapes of the OSL curves. We found that the signal intensity of the UV emission band increased consistently with LET within the range investigated, whereas the intensity of the blue emission band remained constant. Our results also demonstrated that the OSL curve shapes were more LET dependent for signals containing both the blue and UV emission bands than for signals containing only one of the bands. Both metrics we examined in this study - the relative UV/blue emission signal intensities and OSL curve shapes - show potential for LET detection in proton therapy.
AB - Currently, there are no radiation detectors that can be used for routine measurements of linear energy transfer (LET) in particle therapy clinics. In this work, we characterized the LET dependence of Al2O3:C optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) detectors (OSLDs) exposed to therapeutic proton beams in order to evaluate their potential for clinical LET measurements. We evaluated OSLDs that were irradiated with an absorbed dose to water of 0.2 Gy in therapeutic proton beams with average energies ranging between approximately 25 MeV and 200 MeV, resulting in LET in water values between 0.45 and 2.29 keV/μm. We examined two properties of the OSL emission signal in terms of LET dependence: the signal intensities of the blue and ultraviolet (UV) emission bands, and the shapes of the OSL curves. We found that the signal intensity of the UV emission band increased consistently with LET within the range investigated, whereas the intensity of the blue emission band remained constant. Our results also demonstrated that the OSL curve shapes were more LET dependent for signals containing both the blue and UV emission bands than for signals containing only one of the bands. Both metrics we examined in this study - the relative UV/blue emission signal intensities and OSL curve shapes - show potential for LET detection in proton therapy.
KW - Dosimetry
KW - Linear energy transfer
KW - Optically stimulated luminescence
KW - Proton therapy
KW - Radiation measurement
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U2 - 10.1016/j.radmeas.2014.03.026
DO - 10.1016/j.radmeas.2014.03.026
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85027922421
SN - 1350-4487
VL - 71
SP - 69
EP - 73
JO - Radiation Measurements
JF - Radiation Measurements
ER -