JINST Instrumentation Theses Archive

Ph.D. degree thesis
accepted by University of Frankfurt, Germany, in 2007

G�bor Laczk�

Supervisor: Volker Dangendorf

Investigation of the Radial Ionization Distribution of Heavy Ions with an Optical Particle Track Chamber and Monte-Carlo Simulations

 Keywords:

• Detector physics: concepts, processes, methods, modelling and simulations
• Instrumentation and techniques for medical imaging, diagnostics and therapy
• Instrumentation and techniques for dosimetry, monitoring and radiation

 Abstract:
The difference in the relative biological efficiency (RBE) of ions of same linear energy transfer (LET) but different atomic number (Z) can be attributed to the difference in the radial ionisation distribution. In this contribution we present data from measurements of the spatial ionisation pattern of heavy ions of various Z but similar LET and compare the results with track structure data obtained by Monte Carlo simulations. The measurements were made with a time projection chamber with optical readout (Optical Avalanche Chamber, OPAC) which is able to quantitatively capture the spatial ionisation pattern of an ion traversing the chamber.