Test of a Multilayer Dose-Verification Gaseous Detector with Raster-Scan-Mode Proton Beams

A multilayer gaseous detector has been developed for fast dose-verification measurements of raster-scan-mode therapeutic beams in particle therapy. The detector, which was constructed with eight thin parallel-plate ionization chambers (PPICs) and polymethyl methacrylate(PMMA) absorber plates, is closely tissue-equivalent in a beam’s eye view. The gas-electron signals, collected on the strips and pad arrays of each PPIC, were amplified and processed with a continuous charge–integration mode. The detector was tested with 190-MeV raster-scan-mode beams that were provided by the Proton Therapy Facility at Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea. The detector responses of the PPICs for a 190-MeV raster-scan-mode proton beam agreed well with the dose data, measured using a 2D ionization chamber array (Octavius model, PTW). Furthermore, in this study it was confirmed that the detector simultaneously tracked the doses induced at the PPICs by the fast-oscillating beam, with a scanning speed of 2 m s-1. Thus, it is anticipated that the present detector, composed of thin PPICs and operating in charge–integration mode, will allow medical scientists to perform reliable fast dose-verification measurements for typical dynamic mode therapeutic beams.