Measurement of the Energy Spectrum of a 6 MV Linear Accelerator Using Compton Scattering Spectroscopy and Monte Carlo-Generated Corrections

• 作者: Larry A. De Werd Laura J. Bartol Sameer Taneja Wesley Culberson
• 来源期刊: 医学物理学、临床工程、放射肿瘤学(英文)
• 学科: 物理学
• 关键词: Linear Accelerator Energy Spectrum SPECTROMETRY High Purity Germanium Detectors Monte Carlo
• 年，卷（期）: 2020,（4）
• 页码范围: 186-200
• 页数: 15页
• 分类号: O57

摘要

<strong>Purpose:</strong> The energy spectrum of a linear accelerator used for dose calculations is determined during beam commissioning by iteratively adjusting the spectrum and comparing calculated and measured percent depth-dose curves. Direct measurement of the energy spectrum using pulse mode detectors is particularly challenging because of the high-energy, high fluence nature of these beams and limitations of the detector systems. This work implements a Compton scattering (CS) spectroscopy setup and presents detector corrections and spectral unfolding techniques to measure the spectrum of a 6 MV linear accelerator using a pulse mode detector. <strong>Methods:</strong> Spectral measurements were performed using a Varian Clinac 21EX linear accelerator and a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. To reduce fluence to the detector, a custom-built lead shield and a CS spectrometry setup were used. The detector was placed at CS angles of 46<span style="font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;white-space:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;">°</span>, 89<span style="font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;white-space:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;">°</span>, and 125<span style="font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;white-space:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;">°</span>. At each of these locations, a detector response function was generated to account for photon interactions within the experimental geometry. Gold’s deconvolution algorithm was used to unfold the energy spectrum. The measured spectra were compared to simulated spectra, which were obtained using an experimentally benchmarked model of the Clinac 21EX in MCNP6. <strong>Results:</strong> Measurements were acquired and detector response corrections were calculated for all three CS angles. A comparison of spectra for all CS angles showed good agreement with one another. The spectra for all three angles were averaged and showed good agreement with the MCNP6 simulated spectrum, with all points above 400 keV falling within 4%, which was within the uncertainty