MACACO II test-beam with high energy photons

Abstract

The IRIS group at IFIC Valencia is developing a three-layer Compton camera for treatment monitoring in proton therapy. The system is composed of three detector planes, each made of a monolithic crystal coupled to a SiPM array. Having obtained successful results with the first prototype (MACACO) that demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed technology, a second prototype (MACACO II) with improved performance has been developed, and is the subject of this work. The new system has an enhanced detector energy resolution which translates into a higher spatial resolution of the telescope. The image reconstruction method has also been improved with an accurate model of the sensitivity matrix. The device has been tested with high energy photons at the National Accelerator Centre (CNA, Seville). The tests involved a proton beam of 18 MeV impinging on a graphite target, to produce 4.4 MeV photons. Data were taken at different system positions of the telescope with the first detector at 65 and 160 mm from the target, and at different beam intensities. The measurements allowed successful reconstruction of the photon emission distribution at two target positions separated by 5 mm in different telescope configurations. This result was obtained both with data recorded in the first and second telescope planes (two interaction events) and, for the first time in beam experiments, with data recorded in the three planes (three interaction events).