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Main Authors: Paz-Martín, José, Schüller, Andreas, Bourgouin, Alexandra, Gago-Arias, Araceli, Gonzalez-Castaño, Diego M., Gómez-Fernández, Nicolás, Pardo-Montero, Juan, Gómez, Faustino
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.02696
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author Paz-Martín, José
Schüller, Andreas
Bourgouin, Alexandra
Gago-Arias, Araceli
Gonzalez-Castaño, Diego M.
Gómez-Fernández, Nicolás
Pardo-Montero, Juan
Gómez, Faustino
author_facet Paz-Martín, José
Schüller, Andreas
Bourgouin, Alexandra
Gago-Arias, Araceli
Gonzalez-Castaño, Diego M.
Gómez-Fernández, Nicolás
Pardo-Montero, Juan
Gómez, Faustino
contents Air-vented ionization chambers exposed to clinical radiation beams may suffer from recombination during the drift of the charge carriers towards the electrodes. Thus, dosimetry protocols recommend the use of a correction factor, usually denominated saturation factor ($k_{\rm sat}$), to correct the ionization chamber readout for the incomplete collection of charge. The two-voltage method is the recommended methodology for the calculation of the saturation factor, however, it is based on the early Boag model, which only takes into account the presence of positive and negative ions in the ionization chamber and does not account for the electric field screening or the free electron contribution to the signal. The numerical simulation shows a better agreement with the experimental data than the current analytical theories in terms of charge collection efficiency. The classical two-voltage method, systematically overestimates the saturation factor, with differences increasing with dose per pulse also present at low dose per pulse. These results may have implications for the dosimetry with ionization chambers in therapy modalities that use a dose per pulse higher than conventional radiotherapy such as intraoperative radiotherapy but also in conventional dose per pulse for ionization chambers that suffer from significant charge recombination.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_02696
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Evaluation of the two-voltage method for parallel-plate ionization chambers irradiated with pulsed beams
Paz-Martín, José
Schüller, Andreas
Bourgouin, Alexandra
Gago-Arias, Araceli
Gonzalez-Castaño, Diego M.
Gómez-Fernández, Nicolás
Pardo-Montero, Juan
Gómez, Faustino
Medical Physics
Air-vented ionization chambers exposed to clinical radiation beams may suffer from recombination during the drift of the charge carriers towards the electrodes. Thus, dosimetry protocols recommend the use of a correction factor, usually denominated saturation factor ($k_{\rm sat}$), to correct the ionization chamber readout for the incomplete collection of charge. The two-voltage method is the recommended methodology for the calculation of the saturation factor, however, it is based on the early Boag model, which only takes into account the presence of positive and negative ions in the ionization chamber and does not account for the electric field screening or the free electron contribution to the signal. The numerical simulation shows a better agreement with the experimental data than the current analytical theories in terms of charge collection efficiency. The classical two-voltage method, systematically overestimates the saturation factor, with differences increasing with dose per pulse also present at low dose per pulse. These results may have implications for the dosimetry with ionization chambers in therapy modalities that use a dose per pulse higher than conventional radiotherapy such as intraoperative radiotherapy but also in conventional dose per pulse for ionization chambers that suffer from significant charge recombination.
title Evaluation of the two-voltage method for parallel-plate ionization chambers irradiated with pulsed beams
topic Medical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.02696