title: Dose response of alanine detectors irradiated with carbon ion beams.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The dose response of the alanine detector shows a dependence on particle energy and type when irradiated with ion beams. The purpose of this study is to investigate the response behavior of the alanine detector in clinical carbon ion beams and compare the results to model predictions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Alanine detectors have been irradiated with carbon ions with an energy range of 89-400 MeV/u. The relative effectiveness of alanine has been measured in this regime. Pristine and spread out Bragg peak depth-dose curves have been measured with alanine dosimeters. The track structure based alanine response model developed by Hansen and Olsen has been implemented in the Monte Carlo code FLUKA and calculations were compared to experimental results.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Calculations of the relative effectiveness deviate less than 5% from the measured values for monoenergetic beams. Measured depth-dose curves deviate from predictions in the peak region, most pronounced at the distal edge of the peak.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The used model and its implementation show a good overall agreement for quasi-monoenergetic measurements. Deviations in depth-dose measurements are mainly attributed to uncertainties of the detector geometry implemented in the Monte Carlo simulations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark. rhe@phys.au.dk
authors.forename: Rochus
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Jäkel
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Palmans
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sharpe
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bassler
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon; D000409:Alanine