Chambers In Electron Beams Research Articles

Microstructural and Mechanical Property Differences Resulting from Melt Pool Interactions with the Electron Beam Chamber Environment.

Microstructural and Mechanical Property Differences Resulting from Melt Pool Interactions with the Electron Beam Chamber Environment.

Construction of Cryogen-Free 4.3T Superconducting Wiggler for NSLS-II Ring

With the 3 GeV electron beam energy for the National Synchro-tron Light Source II (NSLS-II) ring, only superconducting wig-glers (SCW) producing greater than 4T peak field can cover the photon energy range of 20keV and 200keV with sufficient num-ber of photons. The High energy Engineering X-ray (HEX) Dif-fraction beamline, which is primarily funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and NSLS-II, will be equipped with a 1.2m-long SCW with 70mm period length and 4.3T on-axis field. This SCW is free from the use of liquid Helium and is cooled only with cryo-coolers. The Electron Beam Chamber (EBC) with vertical aper-ture of 8mm is made from 316LN stainless steel and copper plat-ing is applied both entire upper surface and +- 12.5mm wide from the center in the inner surface. The expected heat load from the electron beam of the NSLS-II ring is estimated to be 10W/m. This paper describes the design principles and engineering chal-lenges for the device.

Electron beam water calorimetry measurements to obtain beam quality conversion factors.

To provide results of water calorimetry and ion chamber measurements in high-energy electron beams carried out at the National Research Council Canada (NRC). There are three main aspects to this work: (a) investigation of the behavior of ionization chambers in electron beams of different energies with focus on long-term stability, (b) water calorimetry measurements to determine absorbed dose to water in high-energy beams for direct calibration of ion chambers, and (c) using measurements of chamber response relative to reference ion chambers, determination of beam quality conversion factors, kQ , for several ion chamber types. Measurements are made in electron beams with energies between 8MeV and 22MeV from the NRC Elekta Precise clinical linear accelerator. Ion chamber measurements are made as a function of depth for cylindrical and plane-parallel ion chambers over a period of five years to investigate the stability of ion chamber response and for indirect calibration. Water calorimetry measurements are made in 18MeV and 22MeV beams. An insulated enclosure with fine temperature control is used to maintain a constant temperature (drifts less than 0.1mK/min) of the calorimeter phantom at 4°C to minimize effects from convection. Two vessels of different designs are used with calibrated thermistor probes to measure radiation induced temperature rise. The vessels are filled with high-purity water and saturated with H2 or N2 gas to minimize the effect of radiochemical reactions on the measured temperature rise. A set of secondary standard ion chambers are calibrated directly against the calorimeter. Finally, several other ion chambers are calibrated in the NRC 60 Co reference field and then cross-calibrated against the secondary standard chambers in electron beams to realize kQ factors. The long-term stability of the cylindrical ion chambers in electron beams is better (always <0.15%) than plane-parallel chambers (0.2% to 0.4%). Calorimetry measurements made at 22MeV with two different vessel geometries are consistent within 0.2% after correction for the vessel perturbation. Measurements of absorbed dose calibration coefficients for the same secondary standard chamber separated in time by 10yr are within 0.2%. Drifts in linac output that would affect the transfer of the standard are mitigated to the 0.1% level by performing daily ion chamber normalization measurements. Calibration coefficients for secondary standard ion chambers can be achieved with uncertainties less than 0.4% (k=1) in high-energy electron beams. The additional uncertainty in deriving calibration coefficients for well-behaved chambers indirectly against the secondary standard reference chambers is negligible. The kQ factors measured here differ by up to 1.3% compared to those in TG-51, an important change for reference dosimetry measurements. The measurements made here of kQ factors for eight plane-parallel and six cylindrical ion chambers will impact future updates of reference dosimetry protocols by providing some of the highest quality measurements of this crucial dosimetric parameter.

Enhanced Optoelectronic Properties of PFO/Fluorol 7GA Hybrid Light Emitting Diodes via Additions of TiO₂ Nanoparticles.

The effect of TiO2 nanoparticle (NP) content on the improvement of poly(9,9′-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl) (PFO)/Fluorol 7GA organic light emitting diode (OLED) performance is demonstrated here. The PFO/Fluorol 7GA blend with specific ratios of TiO2 NPs was prepared via a solution blending method before being spin-coated onto an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate to act as an emissive layer in OLEDs. A thin aluminum layer as top electrode was deposited onto the emissive layer using the electron beam chamber. Improvement electron injection from the cathode was achieved upon incorporation of TiO2 NPs into the PFO/Fluorol 7GA blend, thus producing devices with intense luminance and lower turn-on voltage. The ITO/(PFO/Fluorol 7GA/TiO2)/Al OLED device exhibited maximum electroluminescence intensity and luminance at 25 wt % of TiO2 NPs, while maximum luminance efficiency was achieved with 15 wt % TiO2 NP content. In addition, this work proved that the performance of the devices was strongly affected by the surface morphology, which in turn depended on the TiO2 NP content.

TU‐D‐201‐03: Results of a Survey On the Implementation of the TG‐51 Protocol and Associated Addendum On Reference Dosimetry of External Beams

Purpose:The working group on the review and extension of the TG‐51 protocol (WGTG51) collected data from American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) members with respect to their current TG‐51 and associated addendum usage in the interest of considering future protocol addenda and guidance on reference dosimetry best practices. This study reports an overview of this survey on dosimetry of external beams.Methods:Fourteen survey questions were developed by WGTG51 and released in November 2015. The questions collected information on reference dosimetry, beam quality specification, and ancillary calibration equipment.Results:Of the 190 submissions completed worldwide (U.S. 70%), 83% were AAPM members. Of the respondents, 33.5% implemented the TG‐51 addendum, with the maximum calibration difference for any photon beam, with respect to the original TG‐51 protocol, being &lt;1% for 97.4% of responses. One major finding is that 81.8% of respondents used the same cylindrical ionization chamber for photon and electron dosimetry, implying that many clinics are foregoing the use of parallel‐plate chambers. Other evidence suggests equivalent dosimetric results can be obtained with both cylindrical and parallel‐plate chambers in electron beams. This, combined with users comfort with cylindrical chambers for electrons will likely impact recommendations put forward in an upcoming electron beam addendum to the TG‐51 protocol. Data collected on ancillary equipment showed 58.2% (45.0%) of the thermometers (barometers) in use for beam calibration had NIST traceable calibration certificates, but 48.4% (42.7%) were never recalibrated.Conclusion:This survey provides a snapshot of TG‐51 external beam reference dosimetry practice in radiotherapy centers. Findings demonstrate the rapid take‐up of the TG‐51 photon beam addendum and raise issues for the WGTG51 to focus on going forward, including guidelines on ancillary equipment and the choice of chamber for electron beam dosimetry.

Monte Carlo study of the depth-dependent fluence perturbation in parallel-plate ionization chambers in electron beams.

The electron fluence inside a parallel-plate ionization chamber positioned in a water phantom and exposed to a clinical electron beam deviates from the unperturbed fluence in water in absence of the chamber. One reason for the fluence perturbation is the well-known "inscattering effect," whose physical cause is the lack of electron scattering in the gas-filled cavity. Correction factors determined to correct for this effect have long been recommended. However, more recent Monte Carlo calculations have led to some doubt about the range of validity of these corrections. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to reanalyze the development of the fluence perturbation with depth and to review the function of the guard rings. Spatially resolved Monte Carlo simulations of the dose profiles within gas-filled cavities with various radii in clinical electron beams have been performed in order to determine the radial variation of the fluence perturbation in a coin-shaped cavity, to study the influences of the radius of the collecting electrode and of the width of the guard ring upon the indicated value of the ionization chamber formed by the cavity, and to investigate the development of the perturbation as a function of the depth in an electron-irradiated phantom. The simulations were performed for a primary electron energy of 6 MeV. The Monte Carlo simulations clearly demonstrated a surprisingly large in- and outward electron transport across the lateral cavity boundary. This results in a strong influence of the depth-dependent development of the electron field in the surrounding medium upon the chamber reading. In the buildup region of the depth-dose curve, the in-out balance of the electron fluence is positive and shows the well-known dose oscillation near the cavity/water boundary. At the depth of the dose maximum the in-out balance is equilibrated, and in the falling part of the depth-dose curve it is negative, as shown here the first time. The influences of both the collecting electrode radius and the width of the guard ring are reflecting the deep radial penetration of the electron transport processes into the gas-filled cavities and the need for appropriate corrections of the chamber reading. New values for these corrections have been established in two forms, one converting the indicated value into the absorbed dose to water in the front plane of the chamber, the other converting it into the absorbed dose to water at the depth of the effective point of measurement of the chamber. In the Appendix, the in-out imbalance of electron transport across the lateral cavity boundary is demonstrated in the approximation of classical small-angle multiple scattering theory. The in-out electron transport imbalance at the lateral boundaries of parallel-plate chambers in electron beams has been studied with Monte Carlo simulation over a range of depth in water, and new correction factors, covering all depths and implementing the effective point of measurement concept, have been developed.

Determination of relative ion chamber calibration coefficients from depth-ionization measurements in clinical electron beams

A method is presented to obtain ion chamber calibration coefficients relative to secondary standard reference chambers in electron beams using depth-ionization measurements. Results are obtained as a function of depth and average electron energy at depth in 4, 8, 12 and 18 MeV electron beams from the NRC Elekta Precise linac. The PTW Roos, Scanditronix NACP-02, PTW Advanced Markus and NE 2571 ion chambers are investigated. The challenges and limitations of the method are discussed. The proposed method produces useful data at shallow depths. At depths past the reference depth, small shifts in positioning or drifts in the incident beam energy affect the results, thereby providing a built-in test of incident electron energy drifts and/or chamber set-up. Polarity corrections for ion chambers as a function of average electron energy at depth agree with literature data. The proposed method produces results consistent with those obtained using the conventional calibration procedure while gaining much more information about the behavior of the ion chamber with similar data acquisition time. Measurement uncertainties in calibration coefficients obtained with this method are estimated to be less than 0.5%. These results open up the possibility of using depth-ionization measurements to yield chamber ratios which may be suitable for primary standards-level dissemination.

MAGIC Electromagnetic FDTD-PIC Code Dense Plasma Model Comparison with LSP

MAGIC finite difference time domain particle-in-cell code electromagnetic responses computed using the dense plasma model have been compared with Lsp. Excellent agreement of the tools is achieved using simple geometric representations of generic electron beam chamber experiments.

Determination of overall perturbation factors for plane-parallel ionization chambers in electron beams.

Most dosimetry protocols recommend the use of plane-parallel chambers for dose determination in electron beams with energies below 10 MeV. The new IAEA TRS 381 (1997) protocol includes the overall perturbation factor p(Q) that consists of the in-scattering correction factor p(cav) (or P(repl)) and the wall correction factor p(wall) (or P(wall)). In this work, p(Q) for the commonly applied NACP, PTW/Roos and PTW/Markus plane-parallel chambers was determined experimentally. For the NACP plane-parallel chamber, p(Q) was obtained by comparison with a cylindrical Farmer chamber, while for the PTW/Roos and PTW/Markus chambers it was obtained by comparison with the NACP chamber. The values of p(Q) for these plane-parallel chambers were measured as a function of mean electron energies E(z) from 1.7 MeV to 11.5 MeV. It was found that for the NACP and PTW/Roos chambers, p(Q) is independent of energy down to E(z) =1.7 MeV, while for the PTW/Markus chamber it shows a systematic and exponential drop of about 2% with decreasing energy down to E(z) = 2.7 MeV. However, the decrease of p(Q) for E(z) =1.7 MeV was not exponential.

Extraction of depth‐dependent perturbation factors for parallel‐plate chambers in electron beams using a plastic scintillation detector

This work presents the experimental extraction of the overall perturbation factor PQ in megavoltage electron beams for NACP-02 and Roos parallel-plate ionization chambers using a plastic scintillation detector (PSD). The authors used a single scanning PSD mounted on a high-precision scanning tank to measure depth-dose curves in 6, 12, and 18 MeV clinical electron beams. The authors also measured depth-dose curves using the NACP-02 and PTW Roos chambers. The authors found that the perturbation factors for the NACP-02 and Roos chambers increased substantially with depth, especially for low-energy electron beams. The experimental results were in good agreement with the results of Monte Carlo simulations reported by other investigators. The authors also found that using an effective point of measurement (EPOM) placed inside the air cavity reduced the variation of perturbation factors with depth and that the optimal EPOM appears to be energy dependent. A PSD can be used to experimentally extract perturbation factors for ionization chambers. The dosimetry protocol recommendations indicating that the point of measurement be placed on the inside face of the front window appear to be incorrect for parallel-plate chambers and result in errors in the R50 of approximately 0.4 mm at 6 MeV, 1.0 mm at 12 MeV, and 1.2 mm at 18 MeV.

THE EFFECT OF IRRADIATION DOSE AND AMMONIA CONCENTRATION ON THE APPLICATION OF ELECTRON BEAM FOR TREATMENT GASES POLLUTION OF SO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;AND NO&lt;sub&gt;X&lt;/sub&gt;

The application of electron beam for treatment gases pollution of SO2 and NOx has been studied. The simulated SO2 and NOx gases stream produced from diesel fuel burning boiler were flown into electron beam chamber. Irradiation was conducted using 1000 keV electron beam machine at the dose up to 8.8 kGy, while water vapour and the ammonia gas with variation concentration flew into the system during irradiation. The concentrations of the gases change were observed during processes. After evaluation, it was found that by increasing irradiation dose, the concentration of SO2 and NOx gases removal increases. The efficiency of gases removal may reach 98 % for SO2 and 88 % for NOX at a dose of 8.8 kGy. By increasing ammonia concentration, the efficiency gas removal increases. Besides, by-products from the irradiation yield were sulfate and nitrate salt compound which are possible to be used as a fertilizer. Keywords: radiation, electron beam, gas pollution, SO2, NOx, ammonia

Replacement correction factors for plane‐parallel ion chambers in electron beams

Plane-parallel chambers are recommended by dosimetry protocols for measurements in (especially low-energy) electron beams. In dosimetry protocols, the replacement correction factor P(repl) is assumed unity for "well-guarded" plane-parallel chambers in electron beams when the front face of the cavity is the effective point of measurement. There is experimental evidence that ion chambers which are not well-guarded (e.g., Markus) have nonunity P(repl) values. Monte Carlo simulations are employed in this study to investigate the replacement correction factors for plane-parallel chambers in electron beams. Using previously established Monte Carlo calculation methods, the values of P(repl) are calculated with high statistical precision for the cavities of a variety of plane-parallel chambers in a water phantom irradiated by various electron beams. The dependences of the values of P(repl) on the beam quality, phantom depth, as well as the guard ring width are studied. In the dose fall-off region for low-energy beams, the P(repl) values are very sensitive to depth. It is found that this is mainly due to the gradient effect, which originates from the fact that the effective point of measurement for many plane-parallel chambers should not be at the front face of the cavity but rather shifted toward the center of the cavity by a fraction of a millimeter. Using the front face of the cavity as the effective point of measurement, the calculated values of P(repl) at d(ref) are not unity for some well-guarded plane-parallel chambers. The calculated P(repl) values for the Roos chamber are close to 1 for all electron beams. The calculation results for the Markus chamber are in good agreement with the measured values. The appropriate selection of the effective point of measurement for plane-parallel chambers in electron beams is an important issue. If the effective point of measurement is correctly accounted for, the P(repl) values would be almost independent of depth. Both the guard ring width and the ratio of the collecting volume diameter to the cavity thickness can influence the values of P(repl) For a diameter to thickness ratio of 5 (e.g., NACP02 chamber), the guard width has to be 6 mm for the chamber to be considered as well-guarded, i.e., have a P(repl) value of 1.00.

Replacement correction factors for cylindrical ion chambers in electron beams

In the TG-21 dosimetry protocol, for cylindrical chambers in electron beams the replacement correction factor Prepl (or the product PdisPcav in the IAEA's notation), was conceptually separated into two components: the gradient correction (Pgr) accounting for the effective point of measurement and the fluence correction (Pfl) dealing with the change in the electron fluence spectrum. At the depth of maximum dose (dmax), Pgr is taken as 1. There are experimental data available at dmax for the values of Pfl (or Prepl). In the TG-51 dosimetry protocol, the calibration is at the reference depth dref=0.6R50-0.1 (cm) where Pgr is required for cylindrical chambers and Pfl is unknown and so the measured values at dmax are used with the corresponding mean electron energy at dref. Monte Carlo simulations are employed in this study to investigate the replacement correction factors for cylindrical chambers in electron beams. Using previously established Monte Carlo calculation methods, the values of Prepl and Pfl are calculated with high statistical precision (<0.1%) for cylindrical cavities of a variety of diameters and lengths in a water phantom irradiated by various electron beams. The values of Pgr as defined in the TG-51 dosimetry protocol are also calculated. The calculated values of the fluence correction factors Pfl are in good agreement with the measured values when the wall correction factors are taken into account for the plane-parallel chambers used in the measurements. An empirical formula for Pfl for cylindrical chambers at dref in electron beams is derived as a function of the chamber radius and the beam quality specifier R50. The mean electron energy at depth is a good beam quality specifier for Pfl. Thus TG-51's adoption of Pfl at dmax with the same mean electron energy for use at dref is proven to be accurate. The values of Pgr for a Farmer-type chamber as defined in the TG-51 dosimetry protocol may be wrong by 0.3% for high-energy electron beams and by more than 1% for low-energy electron beams.

SU‐FF‐T‐304: Calculation of the Cavity Correction Factor, Pcav, for Cylindrical Ionization Chambers in Clinical Electron Beams by Monte Carlo Simulation

Purpose: To calculate the cavity correction factor, Pcav, for the cylindrical ionization chambers in clinical electron beams by Monte Carlo simulation. Methods and materials: The Pcav values for cylindrical chambers were calculated with the EGSnrc C++ user code cavity for 6, 9. 12, 15, and 18 MeV electron beams. The air cavity for cylindrical chambers was replaced with “low density water (LDW)” material. LDW is an artificial material that has all the dosimetric properties of nominal water except its density is equal to that of air. The dose to water was calculated with a 0.1 mm thick slab at a reference depth, dref. The point of measurement for the LDW cavity was taken to be 0.5r (r is the radius of the chamber's cavity) deeper than dref. Pcav was calculated for the cavities with diameters of 7 mm, 6 mm, 5 mm, 4 mm, 3 mm, and 2 mm and lengths of 20 mm, 10 mm, and 5 mm. The calculated Pcav values were compared with those from IAEA TRS‐398. Results: Pcav values calculated for cylindrical chambers at dref in clinical electron beams were typically higher than those of TRS‐398, which are based on experimental data of Johansson et al. For a Farmer chamber with the cavity of diameter 6 mm and length 20 mm, calculated Pcav values were higher from 2% to 0.8% than the TRS‐398's data, in a range of 6 MeV to 18 MeV. The dependence on the cavity lengths for Pcav was found at grater or equal to a diameter of 5 mm, but it was not sufficient at diameters of 4 mm and 3 mm. Conclusions: It was found that the calculated Pcav values of cylindrical chambers in electron beams are sufficiently different from the TRS‐398 data.

TU-D-BRB-06: A Monte-Carlo Investigation of the Beam Quality Conversion Factor

Purpose: Clinical reference dosimetry based on absorbed dose standards requires the use of a beam quality conversion factor, kQ. This parameter is ionization chamber-specific and varies with beam quality. Current dosimetry protocols provide values of kQ for commonly used chambers (AAPM TG-51 (1999), IAEA TRS-398 (2000)). However, additional chambers are being used clinically for which values are not available. The aim is to obtain values of kQ for various ionization chambers over a range of photon beam quality using Monte Carle (MC) simulations. There is particular interest in obtaining values for those chambers which cannot be calculated using the TG-51 approach because of missing data, specifically for chambers with a relatively small collecting volume. Method and Materials: Direct MC calculations were made of the absorbed dose to water and the absorbed dose to gas in an ionization chamber at the reference depth in a water phantom. The simulations were performed using the EGSnrc user-codes cavity and egs_chamber to model the ionization chambers using the extended geometry package. The source input used a collimated point source from tabulated spectra for Cobalt-60 beams and various clinical linear accelerators. The chamber geometries were modeled using specifications from the various manufacturers' manuals. Values for seven of the eleven chambers that were simulated in this study are available in TG-51. Results: The calculations of values which are available in TG-51 had a maximum difference of 0.4% from the TG-51 values. The maximum relative uncertainty in these calculations was 0.2%. In cases where experimental results were available the calculations were compared with measurements. Values were obtained for the chambers not provided in TG-51. Conclusion: Direct calculations of kQ show agreement with those provided in TG-51. The simulations are being extended to cylindrical chambers in electron beams and to plane-parallel chambers in photon beams.

Study of the effective point of measurement for ion chambers in electron beams by Monte Carlo simulation

In current dosimetry protocols for electron beams, for plane-parallel chambers, the effective point of measurement is at the front face of the cavity, and, for cylindrical chambers, it is at a point shifted 0.5r upstream from the cavity center. In this study, Monte Carlo simulations are employed to study the issue of effective point of measurement for both plane-parallel chambers and cylindrical thimble chambers in electron beams. It is found that there are two ways of determining the position of the effective point of measurement: One is to match the calculated depth-ionization curve obtained from a modeled chamber to a calculated depth-dose curve; the other is to match the electron fluence spectrum in the chamber cavity to that in the phantom. For plane-parallel chambers, the effective point of measurement determined by the first method is generally not at the front face of the chamber cavity, which is obtained by the second method, but shifted downstream toward the cavity center by an amount that could be larger than one-half a millimeter. This should not be ignored when measuring depth-dose curves in electron beams. For cylindrical chambers, these two methods also give different positions of the effective point of measurement: The first gives a shift of 0.5r, which is in agreement with measurements for high-energy beams and is the same as the value currently used in major dosimetry protocols; the latter gives a shift of 0.8r, which is closer to the value predicted by a theoretical calculation assuming no-scatter conditions. The results also show that the shift of 0.8r is more appropriate if the cylindrical chamber is to be considered as a Spencer-Attix cavity. In electron beams, since the water/air stopping-power ratio changes with depth in a water phantom, the difference of the two shifts (0.3r) will lead to an incorrect evaluation of the water/air stopping-power ratio at the point of measurement, thus resulting in a systematic error in determining the absorbed dose by cylindrical chambers. It is suggested that a shift of 0.8r be used for electron beam calibrations with cylindrical chambers and a shift of 0.4r-0.5r be used for depth-dose measurements.

Absolute dose determination in high-energy electron beams: Comparison of IAEA dosimetry protocols

In this study, absorbed doses were measured and compared for high-energy electrons (6, 9, 12, 16, and 20 MeV) using International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Technical Reports Series No. 277 (TRS), TRS 381, and TRS 398 dosimetry protocols. Absolute dose measurements were carried out using FC65-G Farmer chamber and Nordic Association of Clinical Physicists (NACP) parallel plate chamber with DOSE1 electrometer in WP1-D water phantom for reference field size of 15 × 15 cm2 at 100 cm source-to-surface distance. The results show that the difference between TRS 398 and TRS 381 was about 0.24% to 1.3% depending upon the energy, and the maximum difference between TRS 398 and TRS 277 was 1.5%. The use of cylindrical chamber in electron beam gives the maximum dose difference between the TRS 398 and TRS 277 in the order of 1.4% for energies above 10 MeV (R50 > 4 g/cm2). It was observed that the accuracy of dose estimation was better with the protocols based on the water calibration procedures, as no conversion quantities are involved for conversion of dose from air to water. The cross-calibration procedure of parallel plate chamber with high-energy electron beams is recommended as it avoids pwall correction factor entering into the determination of kQ,Qo.

Measured overall perturbation factors at depths greater than dmax for ionization chambers in electron beams.

In electron beam dosimetry the perturbation effect in the medium by the ionization chamber cavity is accounted for by introducing a replacement correction factor, P(repl). Another perturbation correction factor, denoted as P(wall), is due to the materials of the walls of the parallel-plate chamber differing from the phantom material. Because of the difficulties in separating these two components, we measure the overall perturbation factor, p(q) = P(repl)P(wall). A distinct advantage of parallel-plate ionization chambers over cylindrical chambers is that p(q) has been shown to be close to unity at the standard calibration depth, d(max). However, for many dosimetry applications it is necessary to know the overall perturbation factor at depths greater than d(max). We measured the overall perturbation factor at depths greater than d(max) (approximating the 95%, 90% and 50% depth dose) for a Farmer-type cylindrical ionization chamber and three parallel-plate ionization chambers. We assumed that p(q) for the NACP chamber is unity at these measurement depths. The depth dependence for the other chambers was then measured relative to the NACP chamber. The mean energy at depth, E(d), and percentage depth dose gradient ranges studied were 1.9-18.5 MeV and 0 to 4.5%/mm, respectively. For the other two parallel-plate chambers, we find p(q) to be unity at depths where the percent depth dose is greater than 90%, but it deviates from unity at deeper depths, where the dose gradients exceed about 2.5%/mm. For the cylindrical chamber, p(q) values at depths greater than d(max) were found to be in good agreement with those in TG 21, where the energy at depth, E(d), is used to evaluate p(q).

Ionization chamber shift correction and surface dose measurements in electron beams

Cylindrical ionization chambers produce perturbations (gradient and fluence) in the medium, and hence the point of measurement is not accurately defined in electron beam dosimetry. The gradient perturbation is often corrected by a shift method depending on the type of ion chamber. The shift is in the range of 0.33-0.85 times the inner radius ( r) of the ion chamber, upstream from the centre of the chamber, depending upon the dosimetry protocol. This variation in shift causes the surface dose to be uncertain due to the high dose gradient. An investigation was conducted to estimate the effective point of measurement of cylindrical ion chambers in electron beams. Ionization measurements were taken with the ion chamber in air and in a phantom at source to chamber distances of <100 cm and >100 cm respectively. The data in air and in the phantom were fitted with the inverse square and electron depth dose functions, respectively. The intersection of the two functions provides an accurate estimate of the ion chamber shift and the surface dose. Our results show that the shift correction for an ion chamber is energy dependent. The measured shifts vary from 0.9 r to 0.5 r between 6 MeV and 20 MeV beams respectively. The surface dose measured with the ion chambers and mathematically determined values are in agreement to within 3%. The method presented in this report is unambiguous, fast and reliable for the estimation of surface dose and the shift needed in electron beam dosimetry.

Measurement of Prepl Pwall factors in electron beams and in a 60Co beam for plane-parallel chambers.

This paper describes a method to measure the product of Prepl Pwall correction factors for ionization chambers and presents our measured values of Prepl Pwall for Markus plane-parallel chambers in electron beams. It is shown that the measured values of Prepl Pwall can be fitted to an equation, Prepl Pwall = c1 + c2 R50 + c3 (R50)2, for Markus chambers at the new reference depth for electron beams (6 MeV < or = nominal energy E < or = 20 MeV). We also present our measured values of Prepl Pwall for NACP and Markus chambers in a water phantom irradiated in a 60Co beam.