J. Taylor

Proton tracking for medical imaging and dosimetry

For many years, silicon micro-strip detectors have been successfully used as tracking detectors for particle and nuclear physics experiments. A new application of this technology is to the field of particle therapy, where radiotherapy is carried out by use of charged particles such as protons or carbon ions. Such a treatment has been shown to have advantages over standard x-ray radiotherapy and as a result of this, many new centres offering particle therapy are currently under construction - including two in the U.K.. The characteristics of a new silicon micro-strip detector based system for this application will be presented. The array uses specifically designed large area sensors in several stations in an x-u-v co-ordinate configuration suitable for very fast proton tracking with minimal ambiguities. The sensors will form a tracker capable of giving information on the path of high energy protons entering and exiting a patient. This will allow proton computed tomography (pCT) to aid the accurate delivery of treatment dose with tuned beam profile and energy. The tracker will also be capable of proton counting and position measurement at the higher fluences and full range of energies used during treatment allowing monitoring of the beam profile and total dose. Results and initial characterisation of sensors will be presented along with details of the proposed readout electronics. Radiation tests and studies with different electronics at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and the higher energy proton therapy facility of iThemba LABS in South Africa will also be shown.

Expected proton signal sizes in the PRaVDA Range Telescope for proton Computed Tomography

Proton radiotherapy has demonstrated benefits in the treatment of certain cancers. Accurate measurements of the proton stopping powers in body tissues are required in order to fully optimise the delivery of such treaments. The PRaVDA Consortium is developing a novel, fully solid state device to measure these stopping powers. The PRaVDA Range Telescope (RT), uses a stack of 24 CMOS Active Pixel Sensors (APS) to measure the residual proton energy after the patient. We present here the ability of the CMOS sensors to detect changes in the signal sizes as the proton traverses the RT, compare the results with theory, and discuss the implications of these results on the reconstruction of proton tracks.

A new silicon tracker for proton imaging and dosimetry.

For many years, silicon micro-strip detectors have been successfully used as tracking detectors for particle and nuclear physics experiments. A new application of this technology is to the field of particle therapy where radiotherapy is carried out by use of charged particles such as protons or carbon ions. Such a treatment has been shown to have advantages over standard x-ray radiotherapy and as a result of this, many new centres offering particle therapy are currently under construction around the world today. The Proton Radiotherapy, Verification and Dosimetry Applications (PRaVDA) consortium are developing instrumentation for particle therapy based upon technology from high-energy physics. The characteristics of a new silicon micro-strip tracker for particle therapy will be presented. The array uses specifically designed, large area sensors with technology choices that follow closely those taken for the ATLAS experiment at the HL-LHC. These detectors will be arranged into four units each with three layers in an x–u–v configuration to be suitable for fast proton tracking with minimal ambiguities. The sensors will form a tracker capable of tracing the path of ~200 MeV protons entering and exiting a patient allowing a new mode of imaging known as proton computed tomography (pCT). This will aid the accurate delivery of treatment doses and in addition, the tracker will also be used to monitor the beam profile and total dose delivered during the high fluences used for treatment. We present here details of the design, construction and assembly of one of the four units that will make up the complete tracker along with its characterisation using radiation tests carried out using a 90Sr source in the laboratory and a 60 MeV proton beam at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

Coulomb breakup of neutron-rich Na-29,Na-30 isotopes near the island of inversion

First results are reported on the ground state configurations of the neutron-rich Na-29,Na-30 isotopes, obtained via Coulomb dissociation (CD) measurements. The invariant mass spectra of these nuclei have been obtained through measurement of the four-momenta of all decay products after Coulomb excitation of those nuclei on a Pb-208 target at energies of 400-430 MeV/nucleon using the FRS-ALADIN-LAND setup at GSI, Darmstadt. Integrated inclusive CD cross-sections (CD) of 89 (7) mb and 167 (13) mb for one neutron removal from Na-29 and Na-30, respectively, have been extracted up to an excitation energy of 10 MeV. The major part of one neutron removal, CD cross-sections of those nuclei populate the core, in its ground state. A comparison with the direct breakup model, suggests the predominant occupation of the valence neutron in the ground state of Na-29 (3/2(+)) and Na-30 (2(+)) is the d-orbital with a small contribution from the s-orbital, which are coupled with the ground state of the core. One of the major components of the ground state configurations of these nuclei are Na-28(gs)(1(+)) circle times v(s,d) and Na-29(gs)(3/2(+)) circle times v(s,d), respectively. The ground state spin and parity of these nuclei obtained from this experiment are in agreement with earlier reported values. The spectroscopic factors for the valence neutron occupying the s and d orbitals for these nuclei in the ground state have been extracted and reported for the first time. A comparison of the experimental findings with shell model calculation using the MCSM suggests a lower limit of around 4.3 MeV of the sd-pf shell gap in Na-30.

Experimental study of the 15O(2p, γ)17Ne cross section by Coulomb Dissociation for the rp process

The time-reversed reaction O-15(2p, gamma) Ne-17 has been studied by the Coulomb dissociation technique. Secondary 17Ne ion beams at 500 AMeV have been produced by fragmentation reactions of Ne-20 in a beryllium production target and dissociated on a secondary Pb target. The incoming beam and the reaction products have been identified with the kinematically complete LAND-(RB)-B-3 experimental setup at GSI. The excitation energy prior to decay has been reconstructed by using the invariant-mass method. The preliminary differential and integral Coulomb Dissociation cross sections (sigma(Coul)) have been calculated, which provide a photoabsorption (sigma(photo)) and a radiative capture cross section (sigma(cap)). Additionally, important information about the nuclear structure of the Ne-17 nucleus will be obtained. The analysis is in progress.

Experimental study of the O-15(2p, gamma) Ne-17 cross section by Coulomb Dissociation for the rp process

The time-reversed reaction O-15(2p, gamma) Ne-17 has been studied by the Coulomb dissociation technique. Secondary 17Ne ion beams at 500 AMeV have been produced by fragmentation reactions of Ne-20 in a beryllium production target and dissociated on a secondary Pb target. The incoming beam and the reaction products have been identified with the kinematically complete LAND-(RB)-B-3 experimental setup at GSI. The excitation energy prior to decay has been reconstructed by using the invariant-mass method. The preliminary differential and integral Coulomb Dissociation cross sections (sigma(Coul)) have been calculated, which provide a photoabsorption (sigma(photo)) and a radiative capture cross section (sigma(cap)). Additionally, important information about the nuclear structure of the Ne-17 nucleus will be obtained. The analysis is in progress.

Coulomb breakup of 17 Ne from the view point of nuclear astrophysics

By the Coulomb breakup of 17Ne, the time-reversed reaction 15O(2p,γ)17Ne has been studied. This reaction might play an important role in the rp process, as a break-out reaction of the hot CNO cycle. The secondary 17Ne ion beam with an energy of 500 MeV/nucleon has been dissociated in a Pb target. The reaction products have been detected with the LAND-R3B experimental setup at GSI. The preliminary differential and integral Coulomb dissociation cross section sCoul has been determined, which then will be converted into a photo-absorption cross section sphot o, and a two-proton radiative capture cross section σcap. Additionally, information about the structure of the 17Ne, a potential two-proton halo nucleus, will be received. The analysis is in progress.

Coulomb dissociation reactions on proton-rich Ar isotopes

The dipole strength response of neutron-deficient Argon isotopes was investigated in a Coulomb dissociation experiment using the LAND setup at GSI. Especially the study of low-lying strength components is interesting in several respects. Recent RQRPA calculations predict the appearance of low-lying E1 strength at excitation energies of Ex ≈ 9 MeV for nuclei at the proton dripline in this mass region [1, 2]. In a macroscopic picture, this is discussed in the context of an out-of-phase oscillation of a thin proton skin against the isospin-saturated core. For nuclear astrophysics the measured (γ, p) reactions are interesting for the calculation of reaction cross-sections and radiative proton capture rates for the rp-process. In this hydrogen burning process a lot of nuclear structure information is still missing, for instance for the bottleneck nuclei S and Ar [3].