title: Design and characterisation of a real time proton and carbon ion radiography system based on scintillating optical fibres.
abstract: This paper describes the design and characterization of a charged particle imaging system composed of a position sensitive detector and residual range detector. The position detector consists of two identical overlying and orthogonal planes each of which consists of two layers of pre-aligned and juxtaposed scintillating fibres. The 500μm square section fibres are optically coupled to two Silicon Photomultiplier arrays using a channel reduction system patented by the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. The residual range detector consists of sixty parallel layers of the same fibres used in the position detector each of which is optically coupled to a Silicon Photomultiplier array by wavelength shifting fibres. The sensitive area of the two detectors is 9×9cm(2). Characterising the position sensitive and the residual range detectors to reconstruct the radiography, is fundamental to validating the detectors' designs. The proton radiography of a calibrated target in imaging conditions is presented. The spatial resolution of the position sensitive detector is about 150μm and the range resolution is about 170μm. The performance of the prototypes were tested at CATANA proton therapy facility (Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, INFN, Catania) with energy up to 58MeV and rate of about 10(6) particles per second. The comparison between the simulations and measurements confirms the validity of this system.
authors: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Catania, Italy; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione Catania, Italy. Electronic address: domenico.lopresti@ct.infn.it.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Lo Presti
authors: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione Catania, Italy.
authors: D L
authors: DL
authors: Bonanno
authors: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione Catania, Italy.
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Longhitano
authors: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione Catania, Italy.
authors: D G
authors: DG
authors: Bongiovanni
authors: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Catania, Italy.
authors: G V
authors: GV
authors: Russo
authors: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione Catania, Italy.
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Leonora
authors: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione Catania, Italy.
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Randazzo
authors: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione Catania, Italy.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Reito
authors: University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Cagliari, Italy.
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Sipala
authors: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Catania, Italy; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione Catania, Italy.
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Gallo
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007477:Ions; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D055100:Optical Fibers; D061766:Proton Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D011522:Protons; D011859:Radiography / Q000379:methods*; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D011522:Protons; D014867:Water; D002244:Carbon; D012825:Silicon
keywords: Optical detector read-out strategy; Proton imaging; Real-time proton radiography; Scintillating optical fibres