Development and characterization of cylindrical ionization chambers as dosimetric reference systems for photon radiation

Author(s)

Lucio Pereira Neves

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN/BT)
• Defense date: 2013-10-08

Examining board members

Linda Viola Ehlin Caldas; Carmen Cecília Bueno; Denise Yanikian Nersissian; Teresa Cristina Nathan Outeiro Pinto; Vitor Vivolo

• Advisor: Linda Viola Ehlin Caldas

Abstract

Ionization chambers are the most employed dosimeters for precise measurements, as those requested in radiotherapy. There are several different ionization chambers, employed for different applications, such as pencil ionization chambers, used in computed tomography (CT) dosimetry, and cavity ionization chambers, used as primary standard systems for the air kerma determination. In this work two pencil ionization chambers, with sensitive volumes smaller in size and length than those employed in CT, were characterized in 60Co gamma beams, and two graphite ionization chambers were developed and characterized in order to compose a primary standard system for the beam dosimetry of 60Co sources. Besides these ionization chambers, a cylindrical prototype made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was developed and characterized, in order to evaluate the geometrical design of the graphite ionization chambers. This step was important, since PVC is easier to use as manufacture material and it presents a lower production cost than graphite. The inicial study, with the pencil ionization chambers, was essential in order to choose the materials and parameters employed for the further ionization chamber models. The determination of the radiation spectra that best fits the 60Co source employed in this work was also carried out with a pencil ionization chamber. From the results with the pencil and the PVC ionization chambers, the graphite dosimeters were projected, developed and characterized, both experimentally and using Monte Carlo simulations. The results obtained with these dosimeters pointed out that they present metrological quality to be used as primary standard systems. As an application of the study concerning the graphite ionization chambers, the air kerma rate of the 60Co source of the Calibration Laboratory was determined and compared with the value obtained with the IPEN standard system. The values obtained with the developed ionization chambers CG1 and CG2 presented differences of only 0.17% and 1.7%, respectively. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/01070-4 - Development of a cavitary ionization chamber with metrological quality to be used as a standard system for gamma radiation.
• Grantee: Lucio Pereira Neves
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate