Wong, Hiu Fung; (2017) Development of a Calorimeter for Clinical Proton Therapy Beams. Masters thesis (M.Phil), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Proton therapy is a promising alternative to conventional X-ray radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer, particularly in regions at depth and close to critical structures. The conformity of proton therapy makes depth-dose calculations crucial, lest miscalculations lead to missing the target volume, especially at distal edges. X-ray computed tomography is used as a measure of absorption of photons through a patient for conventional radiotherapy, but the differing natures of photon and charged particle interaction can result in range calculation errors. Provided protons are of high enough energy to pass through the volume being imaged, it is possible to image the patient using protons rather than photons. This requires that the path and residual energy of the protons after passing through a volume can be determined with good resolution. An optical module developed initially for the SuperNEMO calorimeter shows potential for clinical applications and is being adapted for use as a proton calorimeter. This report describes studies to characterise the energy resolution of these modules with a view to using them for proton-based 3D tomography. This report describes studies to characterise the energy resolution of these modules with a view to using them for proton-based 3D tomography. Pulse-shape analysis and application of χ^2 filters were used with the aim of reducing pile-up events in recorded waveform data. While the fitting was successful, it did not result in a significantly improved energy resolution for any of the datasets investigated.

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