title: A quality control method for detecting energy changes of medical accelerators.
abstract: A description is presented of a simple and sensitive method for detecting a change in the energy of the electrons bombarding the target of medical accelerators. This technique is useful for x-ray beams with end point energy in the range of 15.7 to 25 MeV. The method is based on the photoactivation of 160 and 14N in a small sample of ammonium nitrate. It was found that the ratio of the activity induced in the oxygen divided by that produced in the nitrogen can be used as a quality control technique to detect a change in the energy of the electrons that bombard the target of the accelerator. An electron energy change of the order of 0.2 MeV can be determined using this method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. patton@radonc.emory.org
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: McGinley
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Bader
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010315:Particle Accelerators / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011786:Quality Control; D013997:Time Factors; D014965:X-Rays