Zero degree measurements of 12C fragmentation at 95 MeV/nucleon on thin targets

During therapeutic treatments using ions such as carbon, nuclear interactions between the incident ions and nuclei present in organic tissues may occur, leading to the attenuation of the incident beam intensity and to the production of secondary light charged particles. As the biological dose deposited in the tumor and the surrounding healthy tissues depends on the beam composition, an accurate knowledge of the fragmentation processes is thus essential. In particular, the nuclear interaction models have to be validated using experimental double differential cross sections which are still very scarce. An experiment was realized in 2011 at GANIL to obtain these cross sections for a 95 MeV/nucleon carbon beam on different thin targets for angles raging from 4 to 43{\deg} . In order to complete these data, a new experiment was performed on September 2013 at GANIL to measure the fragmentation cross section at zero degree for a 95 MeV/nucleon carbon beam on thin targets. In this work, the experimental setup will be described, the analysis method detailed and the results presented

Measurement of charged particle yields from therapeutic beams in view of the design of an innovative hadrontherapy dose monitor

Particle Therapy (PT) is an emerging technique, which makes use of charged particles to efficiently cure different kinds of solid tumors. The high precision in the hadrons dose deposition requires an accurate monitoring to prevent the risk of under-dosage of the cancer region or of over-dosage of healthy tissues. Monitoring techniques are currently being developed and are based on the detection of particles produced by the beam interaction into the target, in particular: charged particles, result of target and/or projectile fragmentation, prompt photons coming from nucleus de-excitation and back-to-back γ s, produced in the positron annihilation from β + emitters created in the beam interaction with the target. It has been showed that the hadron beam dose release peak can be spatially correlated with the emission pattern of these secondary particles. Here we report about secondary particles production (charged fragments and prompt γ s) performed at different beam and energies that have a particular relevance for PT applications: 12C beam of 80 MeV/u at LNS, 12C beam 220 MeV/u at GSI, and 12C, 4He, 16O beams with energy in the 50–300 MeV/u range at HIT. Finally, a project for a multimodal dose-monitor device exploiting the prompt photons and charged particles emission will be presented

Proton Interaction Vertex Imaging With Silicon-Pixel CMOS Telescope For Carbon Therapy Quality control

International audienceMonitoring of the dose deposition during carbon ion therapy is a crucial issue for the quality control of such treatments. Recent studies have demonstrated that an ion-range control with millimeter resolution is feasible on a pencil-beam basis in homogeneous targets with prompt gamma detection for proton beams [1] and with Proton Interaction Vertex Imaging (PIVI) for carbon beams [2]. The present communication aims at describing our experimental and Monte Carlo simulation results. [1] J. Smeets et al., Phys. Med. Biol. 57 (2012) 3371-3405 [2] P. Henriquet et al., Phys. Med. Biol. 57 (2012) 4655-466

Real-Time Online Monitoring of the Ion Range by Means of Prompt Secondary Radiations

International audiencePrompt secondary radiations such as gamma rays and protons can be used for ion-range monitoring during ion therapy either on an energy-slice basis or on a pencil-beam basis. We present a review of the ongoing activities in terms of detector developments, imaging, experimental and theoretical physics issues concerning the correlation between the physical dose and hadronic processe

Performance of the ToF detectors in the foot experiment

The FOOT (FragmentatiOn Of Target) experiment aims to deter- mine the fragmentation cross-sections of nuclei of interest for particle therapy and radioprotection in space. The apparatus is composed of several detectors that allow fragment identification in terms of charge, mass, energy and direction. The frag- ment time of flight (ToF) along a lever arm of ∼2 m is used for particle ID, requiring a resolution below 100ps to achieve a sufficient resolution in the fragment atomic mass identification. The timing performance of the ToF system evaluated with 12C and 16O beams is reviewed in this contribution

Charge identification of fragments with the emulsion spectrometer of the FOOT experiment

The FOOT (FragmentatiOn Of Target) experiment is an international project designed to carry out the fragmentation cross-sectional measurements relevant for charged particle therapy (CPT), a technique based on the use of charged particle beams for the treatment of deep-seated tumors. The FOOT detector consists of an electronic setup for the identification of Z ≥ 3 fragments and an emulsion spectrometer for Z ≤ 3 fragments. The first data taking was performed in 2019 at the GSI facility (Darmstadt, Germany). In this study, the charge identification of fragments induced by exposing an emulsion detector, embedding a C2 H4 target, to an oxygen ion beam of 200 MeV/n is discussed. The charge identification is based on the controlled fading of nuclear emulsions in order to extend their dynamic range in the ionization response

Measuring the Impact of Nuclear Interaction in Particle Therapy and in Radio Protection in Space: the FOOT Experiment

In Charged Particle Therapy (PT) proton or 12C beams are used to treat deep-seated solid tumors exploiting the advantageous characteristics of charged particles energy deposition in matter. For such projectiles, the maximum of the dose is released at the end of the beam range, in the Bragg peak region, where the tumour is located. However, the nuclear interactions of the beam nuclei with the patient tissues can induce the fragmentation of projectiles and/or target nuclei and needs to be carefully taken into account when planning the treatment. In proton treatments, the target fragmentation produces low energy, short range fragments along all the beam path, that deposit a non-negligible dose especially in the first crossed tissues. On the other hand, in treatments performed using 12C, or other (4He or 16O) ions of interest, the main concern is related to the production of long range fragments that can release their dose in the healthy tissues beyond the Bragg peak. Understanding nuclear fragmentation processes is of interest also for radiation protection in human space flight applications, in view of deep space missions. In particular 4He and high-energy charged particles, mainly 12C, 16O, 28Si and 56Fe, provide the main source of absorbed dose in astronauts outside the atmosphere. The nuclear fragmentation properties of the materials used to build the spacecrafts need to be known with high accuracy in order to optimise the shielding against the space radiation. The study of the impact of these processes, which is of interest both for PT and space radioprotection applications, suffers at present from the limited experimental precision achieved on the relevant nuclear cross sections that compromise the reliability of the available computational models. The FOOT (FragmentatiOn Of Target) collaboration, composed of researchers from France, Germany, Italy and Japan, designed an experiment to study these nuclear processes and measure the corresponding fragmentation cross sections. In this work we discuss the physics motivations of FOOT, describing in detail the present detector design and the expected performances, coming from the optimization studies based on accurate FLUKA MC simulations and preliminary beam test results. The measurements planned will be also presented

Elemental fragmentation cross sections for a O-16 beam of 400 MeV/u kinetic energy interacting with a graphite target using the FOOT Delta E-TOF detectors

The study of nuclear fragmentation plays a central role in many important applications: from the study of Particle Therapy (PT) up to radiation protection for space (RPS) missions and the design of shielding for nuclear reactors. The FragmentatiOn Of Target (FOOT) collaboration aims to study the nuclear reactions that describe the interactions with matter of different light ions (like H-1, He-4, C-12, O-16) of interest for such applications, performing double differential fragmentation cross section measurements in the energy range of interest for PT and RPS. In this manuscript, we present the analysis of the data collected in the interactions of an oxygen ion beam of 400 MeV/u with a graphite target using a partial FOOT setup, at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research facility in Darmstadt. During the data taking the magnets, the silicon trackers and the calorimeter foreseen in the final FOOT setup were not yet available, and hence precise measurements of the fragments kinetic energy, momentum and mass were not possible. However, using the FOOT scintillator detectors for the time of flight (TOF) and energy loss (Delta E) measurements together with a drift chamber, used as beam monitor, it was possible to measure the elemental fragmentation cross sections. The reduced detector set-up and the limited available statistics allowed anyway to obtain relevant results, providing statistically significant measurements of cross sections eagerly needed for PT and RPS applications. Whenever possible the obtained results have been compared with existing measurements helping in discriminating between conflicting results in the literature and demonstrating at the same time the proper functioning of the FOOT Delta E-TOF system. Finally, the obtained fragmentation cross sections are compared to the Monte Carlo predictions obtained with the FLUKA software

FOOT: a new experiment to measure nuclear fragmentation at intermediate energies

Summary: Charged particle therapy exploits proton or 12C beams to treat deep-seated solid tumors. Due to the advantageous characteristics of charged particles energy deposition in matter, the maximum of the dose is released to the tumor at the end of the beam range, in the Bragg peak region. However, the beam nuclear interactions with the patient tissues induces fragmentation both of projectile and target nuclei and needs to be carefully taken into account. In proton treatments, target fragmentation produces low energy, short range fragments along all the beam range, which deposit a non negligible dose in the entry channel. In 12C treatments the main concern is represented by long range fragments due to beam fragmentation that release their dose in the healthy tissues beyond the tumor. The FOOT experiment (FragmentatiOn Of Target) of INFN is designed to study these processes, in order to improve the nuclear fragmentation description in next generation Treatment Planning Systems and the treatment plans quality. Target (16O and 12C nuclei) fragmentation induced by –proton beams at therapeutic energies will be studied via an inverse kinematic approach, where 16O and 12C therapeutic beams impinge on graphite and hydrocarbon targets to provide the nuclear fragmentation cross section on hydrogen. Projectile fragmentation of 16O and 12C beams will be explored as well. The FOOT detector includes a magnetic spectrometer for the fragments momentum measurement, a plastic scintillator for ΔE and time of flight measurements and a crystal calorimeter to measure the fragments kinetic energy. These measurements will be combined in order to make an accurate fragment charge and isotopic identification. Keywords: Hadrontherapy, Nuclear fragmentation cross sections, Tracking detectors, Scintillating detector

Charge identification of fragments with the emulsion spectrometer of the FOOT experiment

The FOOT (FragmentatiOn Of Target) experi- ment is an international project designed to carry out the fragmentation cross-sectional measurements relevant for charged particle therapy (CPT), a technique based on the use of charged particle beams for the treatment of deep-seated tumors. The FOOT detector consists of an electronic setup for the identification of Z >= 3 fragments and an emulsion spectrometer for Z <= 3 fragments. The first data taking was performed in 2019 at the GSI facility(Darmstadt, Germany). In this study, the charge identifi-cation of fragments induced by exposing an emulsion detector, embedding a C2H4 target, to an oxygen ion beam of 200 MeV/n is discussed. The charge identifica-tion is based on the controlled fading of nuclear emulsions in order to extend their dynamic range in the ionization response