Program Information

Radiation Detector Responses to Applied Homogeneous Transverse and Parallel Magnetic Fields

M Reynolds*, S Rathee, S Vidakovic, B Fallone, Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, AB

SU-E-T-12 Sunday 3:00:00 PM - 6:00:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall

Purpose: To determine the relative dose response of a diamond detector and a ion chamber in a clinical photon beam within uniform magnetic fields, endeavoring to evaluate and refine reference dosimetry techniques for use in integrated MR-linac systems.
Methods: The Monte Carlo code PENELOPE was used to model the structure and materials of the PTW60003 diamond detector and PR06 ion chamber in a 6MV beam in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field. The magnetic field strength was varied from 0 to 1.5T, and both the parallel and transverse magnetic field orientations with respect to the beam central axis were simulated. The long axes of the detectors were oriented both perpendicular and parallel to the radiation beam direction for each magnetic field orientation. All simulations determined the detectors' signal in air. A small electromagnet was used to experimentally determine the detectors' response in transverse magnetic fields up to 0.2T to validate the simulations.
Results: The simulated response of both detectors matched to the experimental data within the estimation error. The relative response of PR06 and diamond detector varied up to ±8.5% (depending on chamber orientation) and >9% respectively with increasing transverse magnetic field strength. In contrast, both detectors were found to be relatively insensitive to the increasing magnetic fields irrespective of the detector orientation in parallel magnetic field. A maximum change of 2% in PR06 response was observed at 1.5T parallel magnetic field and in the parallel orientation of chamber.
Conclusion: This work has significant impact on dosimetry protocols for integrated MR-linac systems, where detector response may be altered by the presence of a magnetic field. The need for a magnetic field dependent correction factor is strongly indicated for the transverse magnetic field cases, while such changes in detector response can be largely ignored in parallel magnetic fields < 1T.

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