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Published on: January 3, 2016
A design methodology using signal-to-noise ratio for plastic scintillation detectors design and performance
Frédéric Lacroix1, A Sam Beddar, Mathieu Guillot
1Département de Radio-Oncologie, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montéfal, 1560 Sherbrooke est, Montréal, Quebec H2L 4MI, Canada. frederic.lacroix.chum@ssss.gouv.qc.ca
Purpose:
The design of novel plastic scintillation detectors (PSDs) is impeded by the lack of a suitable framework to simulate and predict their performance. The authors propose to use the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to model the performance of PSDs that use charge-coupled devices (CCDs) as photodetectors.
Methods:
In PSDs using CCDs, the SNR is inversely related to the normalized standard deviation of the dose measurement. Thus, optimizing the SNR directly optimizes the system's precision. In this work, a model of SNR as a function of the system parameters is derived for optical fiber-based PSD systems. Furthermore, this proposed model is validated using experimental results. A formula for the efficiency of fiber coupling to CCDs is derived and used to simulate the performance of a PSD under varying magnifications.
Results:
The proposed model is shown to simulate the experimental performance of an actual PSD to a suitable degree of accuracy under various conditions.
Conclusions:
The SNR constitutes a useful tool to simulate the dosimetric precision of PSDs. Using the SNR model, recommendations for the design and optimization of PSDs are provided. Using the same framework, recommendations for non-fiber-based PSDs are also provided.
