Project Overview

The measurement of radiation dose in the direction along a beam's axis is used for two purposes: (1) To locate the depth of maximum dose deposition, and (2) characterize the energy spectrum of the incident beam. The standard reference is a tank of water as a surrogate for human tissue. A more convenient alternative method is to use sheets of specialized plastic to mimic water or tissue. The former involves positioning a detector in the water using a mechanical stage. The latter involves manually placing sheets of plastic material to vary the measurement depth, which does without the water, but is manual and tedious to produce a depth dose profile, i.e. a curve representing dose with depth from the surface.

We are here to create a device that has the convenience of the plastic material, and the ability to produce a depth dose curve like a mechanical scanning system in water. Ideally, this device will accept standard radiation ion chambers and be remote controllable from outside the shielded room wherein the radiation generating device resides. The device will produce an array of data of detected signal versus depth in the material. The device needs to operate in two modes: (1) Constant surface distance from the source, but varying depth from the surface, and (2) Variable surface distance and variable depth.

References
1D scanning water tank example: http://www.standardimaging.com/phantoms/doseview-1d/

Plastic stack and detector example: http://www.standardimaging.com/phantoms/stereotactic-dose-verification-phantom/

Team Picture

Contact Information

Team Members

• Ashley Hermanns - Team Leader & Communicator
• Anna Elicson - BSAC
• Andrew Duplissis - BWIG & BPAG

Advisor and Client

• Prof. Amit Nimunkar - Advisor
• Dr. Sean Frigo - Client

Related Projects

• Spring 2017: Water-free radiation depth dose profile measurement device
• Fall 2016: Water-free radiation depth dose profile measurement device