Understanding the lateral dose response functions of high-resolution photon detectors by reverse Monte Carlo and...

The purpose of the present study is to understand the mechanism underlying the perturbation of the field of the secondary electrons, which occurs in the presence of a detector in water as the surrounding medium. By means of 'reverse' Monte Carlo simulation, the points of origin of the secondary electrons contributing to the detector's signal are identified and associated with the detector's mass density, electron density and atomic composition. The spatial pattern of the origin of these secondary electrons, in addition to the formation of the detector signal by components from all parts of its sensitive volume, determines the shape of the lateral dose response function, i.e. of the convolution kernel K(x,y) linking the lateral profile of the absorbed dose in the undisturbed surrounding medium with the associated profile of the detector's signal. The shape of the convolution kernel is shown to vary essentially with the electron density of the detector's material, and to be attributable to the relative contribution by the signal-generating secondary electrons originating within the detector's volume to the total detector signal. Finally, the representation of the over- or underresponse of a photon detector by this density-dependent convolution kernel will be applied to provide a new analytical expression for the associated volume effect correction factor.