Correction factors for the INER-improved free-air ionization chambers calculated with the Monte Carlo method

Abstract

Monte Carlo method was used to simulate the correction factors for electron loss and scattered photons for two improved cylindrical free-air ionization chambers (FACs) constructed at the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER, Taiwan). The method is based on weighting correction factors for mono-energetic photons with X-ray spectra. The newly obtained correction factors for the medium-energy free-air chamber were compared with the current values, which were based on a least-squares fit to experimental data published in the NBS Handbook 64 [Wyckoff, H.O., Attix, F.H., 1969. Design of free-air ionization chambers. National Bureau Standards Handbook, No. 64. US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, pp. 1–16; Chen, W.L., Su, S.H., Su, L.L., Hwang, W.S., 1999. Improved free-air ionization chamber for the measurement of X-rays. Metrologia 36, 19–24]. The comparison results showed the agreement between the Monte Carlo method and experimental data is within 0.22%. In addition, mono-energetic correction factors for the low-energy free-air chamber were calculated. Average correction factors were then derived for measured and theoretical X-ray spectra at 30–50 kVp. Although the measured and calculated spectra differ slightly, the resulting differences in the derived correction factors are less than 0.02%.