Introduction

The invention relates to a radiation detector for medical applications. The device, used in conjunction with particle accelerators or X-ray generators, allows to reconstruct the beam profile in real time in a non-perturbative way.

Technical features

The ionizing radiation detector, placed in the vacuum-air interface of the accelerators used in radiotherapy and hadrontherapy, allows monitoring of the radiation that passes through it, be it a beam of charged particles or an X-ray beam, thus the trend of the flow of particles in real time. Furthermore, the reduced thickness allows not to disturb the beam and its structure as a matrix of hydrogenated amorphous silicon diodes, of suitable granularity and spacing, providing information on the spatial profile of the flow. The material it is made of makes the device resistant to radiation damage. Given the response time of hydrogenated amorphous silicon diodes, this system is also suitable for very fast pulsed beams with rising edges up to tens of ns and pulse duration of the order of microseconds.

Possible Applications

• Particle therapy dosimetry;
• Dosimetry in high energy physics experiments.

Advantages

• Reduced thickness (55-60 µm) such as not to perturb the radiation beam;
• Real time response;
• Suitable for pulsed beams;
• Cost effective.