Diamond-based detection systems for tomorrow's precision dosimetry

Abstract

Radiation therapy is now widely applied for cancer care. For an effective and safe treatment, accurate dosimetry is mandatory. The evolution and widespread adoption of modern dynamic and conformal radiotherapy techniques have imposed several challenges from a dosimetric perspective. Commonly employed radiation beams include high-energy (6–18 MeV) photons or electron beams for external treatments, as well as low-energy (tens of keV) photons for intraoperative procedures. Recently, the emerging FLASH technique is posing additional challenges in the field of dosimetry. This work involved the fabrication and test of a custom-made diamond dosimeter. The detector was exposed to high-energy and low-energy X-ray radiation, as well as to FLASH beams, highlighting its versatility under all these conditions. The sensitivity of the dosimeter was estimated to be 73.96 nC Gy−1 mm−3 under MeV photons and 2.76 nC Gy−1 mm−3 under FLASH MeV electrons. Furthermore, this paper aims to illustrate the accuracy of dosimetry using the synchronous detection technique, enabling real-time monitoring of the dose delivered in each pulse, a crucial aspect for the beam diagnostics in the emerging FLASH radiotherapy.