On the feasibility of water calorimetry with scanned proton radiation

Water calorimetry is considered to be the most direct primary method to realize the physical quantity gray for absorbed dose to water. The Swiss Federal Office of Metrology and Accreditation (METAS) has routinely operated a water calorimeter as primary standard for photon radiation since 2001. Nowadays, cancer therapy with proton radiation has become increasingly important and is a well established method. In the framework of the ProScan project conducted by the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), the spot-scanning technique is prepared for the subsequent application in hospitals, and adjusted to the recent findings of clinical research. In the absence of primary standards for proton radiation, the metrological traceability is assured by calibrating secondary standards in 60Co radiation and correcting with calculated beam quality correction factors. It is internationally recognized that the development of primary standards for proton radiation is highly desirable. In a common project of PSI and METAS, it is investigated whether a modified version of the water calorimeter in operation at METAS is suitable as primary standard for scanned proton radiation. A feasibility study has been conducted to investigate the linear energy transfer (LET) dependence of the heat defect and the influence of the time and space structure of the scanned beam on the homogeneity and stability of the temperature field in the water calorimeter. Simulations are validated against experimental data of the existing calorimeter used with photon radiation and extended to scanned proton radiation.