Plastic scintillator based dosimeters for radiology

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Introduction
Plastic scintillators have been investigated over the last two decades for dosimetric applications. For photon beams they have good water equivalence above 100 keV [1] and linear scintillation response above 200-250 keV [2] and several plastic dosimeters have been proposed for radiotherapy and brachytherapy purposes. At lower beam energies, in the radiology range, water equivalence is not as good and the scintillation response is not linear with respect to the deposited energy. However for some radiology applications, where the beam characteristics is not severely affected by the presence of the phantom (or patient) a linear response with dose can still be achieved. The use of active plastic dosimeters can be particularly important in applications like dental panoramic tomography where the dosimeter should be transparent.

L. Peraltaa,b , C.H. Oliveirab, F. Regob, M. Anjo Albuquerqueb

a) Faculdade de Cincias da Universidade de Lisboa b) Laboratrio de Instrumentao e Fsica Experimental de Partculas, Lisboa

Plastic scintillators and photodetector

Plastic scintillators can have different sizes and shapes which can be optimized for the intended application. Under clinical exposures, the light yield is in general sufficient for the detection with Si-PIN photodiodes.

Hamamatsu S9195 Plastic scintillators

A simple readout apparatus

The scintillator is coupled to a PMMA optical fiber (with a lenght of a few meters) which in turn is coupled to the photodiode. Since unbiased photodiodes have no dark current, the overall noise can be as low as a few tens of fA. The output current can be directly measured by an electrometer.

Experimental tests
2x20 mm scintillating optical fiber 5x5x10 mm scintillator

Tests made with two diferent scintillator types and different sizes, show a good linearity of such a device even for small kVp beam values. Dose values of about 100 Gy are in reach of these dosimeters.

Conclusion
Plastic scintillators can be used for low energy dosimetry if a dedicated setup calibration is performed. They can be of special value in imaging applications where a transparent dosimeter is mandatory.
Panoramic x-ray radiography of the teeth of a 64 year-old male [3].

References
[1] M.J. Berger et al., XCOM: Photon Cross Sections Database, http://www.nist.gov/pml/data/xcom/index.cfm [2] Anne-Marie Frelin et al., Comparative Study of Plastic Scintillators for Dosimetric Applications, IEEE Trans. on Nucl. Sci., vol. 55, no. 5, Oct. 2008 [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PAN_TEETH.jpg