The LLNL voxel phantom: comparison with the physical phantom and previous virtual phantoms

The Human Monitoring Laboratory has created a voxel phantom from computer tomography scans of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) torso phantom for use in Monte Carlo simulations. The voxel phantom has been compared to the previously developed mathematical phantom using Monte Carlo simulations and both virtual phantoms have been compared to physical measurement of the LLNL phantom. The voxel phantom agreed well with the others, except at very low photon energies (i.e., 17.5 keV), with predicted counting efficiencies being within 2% of the counting efficiencies from the other two phantoms at 59.5 keV and above. The mathematical phantom performs similarly to the voxel phantom, but much faster, so it is an excellent alternative if computer power is lacking. The voxel phantom of the LLNL phantom is available from the authors, on request.