Program Information
The Effect of System Dead Time On Real-Time Plastic and GOS Based Fiber-Optic Dosimetry Systems
M Hoerner*, D Hintenlang , Univ Florida, Gainesville, FL
Presentations
SU-E-I-88 (Sunday, July 12, 2015) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall
Purpose: A methodology is presented to correct for measurement inaccuracies at high detector count rates using a plastic and GOS scintillation fibers coupled to a photomultiplier tube with digital readout. This system allows temporal acquisition and manipulation of measured data.
Methods: The detection system used was a plastic scintillator and a separate gadolinium scintillator, both (0.5 diameter) coupled to an optical fiber with a Hamamatsu photon counter with a built-in microcontroller and digital interface. Count rate performance of the system was evaluated using the nonparalzable detector model. Detector response was investigated across multiple radiation sources including: orthovoltage x-ray system, colbat-60 gamma rays, proton therapy beam, and a diagnostic radiography x-ray tube. The dead time parameter was calculated by measuring the count rate of the system at different exposure rates using a reference detector.
Results: The system dead time was evaluated for the following sources of radiation used clinically: diagnostic energy x-rays, cobalt-60 gamma rays, orthovoltage x-rays, particle proton accelerator, and megavoltage x-rays. It was found that dead time increased significantly when exposing the detector to sources capable of generating Cerenkov radiation, all of the sources sans the diagnostic x-rays, with increasing prominence at higher photon energies. Percent depth dose curves generated by a dedicated ionization chamber and compared to the detection system demonstrated that correcting for dead time improves accuracy. On most sources, nonparalzable model fit provided an improved system response.
Conclusion: Overall, the system dead time was variable across the investigated radiation particles and energies. It was demonstrated that the system response accuracy was greatly improved by correcting for dead time effects. Cerenkov radiation plays a significant role in the increase in the system dead time through transient absorption effects attributed to electron hole-pair creations within the optical waveguide.
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