IMAGING OF PROTON BRAGG PEAKS IN LiF

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Materials Science
• Radiation Detection

Background:

• Lithium fluoride (LiF) is a widely used thermoluminescent phosphor for radiation dosimetry.
• LiF exhibits radiophotoluminescence, emitting light after irradiation due to color center formation.
• Excitation with blue light results in photoluminescence with peaks at ~520 and ~670 nm.

Purpose of the Study:

• To image Bragg peaks of proton beams used in eye radiotherapy.
• To investigate the use of LiF crystals for visualizing proton beam dose distributions.
• To correlate proton beam energy with penetration depth in LiF.

Main Methods:

• Irradiating LiF crystals with proton beams (28-50 MeV).
• Exciting irradiated LiF with 445 nm blue light to measure fluorescence.
• Utilizing Monte Carlo simulations to calculate proton beam ranges in LiF.

Main Results:

• Successfully imaged Bragg peaks of proton beams in LiF crystals.
• Demonstrated the potential of LiF radiophotoluminescence for dose distribution visualization.
• Calculated proton ranges in LiF for various energies.

Conclusions:

• LiF crystals are suitable for imaging proton beam Bragg peaks via radiophotoluminescence.
• This technique can aid in verifying proton therapy dose distributions.
• The study provides a foundation for using LiF in proton therapy quality assurance.