Compact Electronic Gamma Source For Radiotherapy

A compact mono-energetic gamma source is being developed to replace the radiological sources used in radiotherapy and other medical instruments. The electronic gamma source utilizes low-energy nuclear reactions to generate gammas in the 0.5 to 1.0 MeV energy range. Independent control of the ion cur...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chen, A. X., Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, Antolak, A. J., Raber, T. N., Morse, D. H., Leung, K.-N.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
ACCELERATION
ACCELERATORS
BREAKDOWN
CHARGED PARTICLES
CRYSTALS
DECOUPLING
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
ENERGY RANGE
FLUID FLOW
GAMMA SOURCES
ION SOURCES
IONS
KEV RANGE
KEV RANGE 100-1000
MATERIALS
MEDICINE
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
RADIATION SOURCES
RADIOLOGY
RADIOTHERAPY
THERAPY
THERMAL CYCLING
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Summary:A compact mono-energetic gamma source is being developed to replace the radiological sources used in radiotherapy and other medical instruments. The electronic gamma source utilizes low-energy nuclear reactions to generate gammas in the 0.5 to 1.0 MeV energy range. Independent control of the ion current and energy is achieved by decoupling the RF-driven ion source and pyroelectric crystal-based acceleration systems The ions are accelerated to voltages above 100 keV and bombard a reaction target to produce gammas. Thermal management of the pyroelectric crystal-based accelerator is achieved by convective dielectric fluid flow around the crystal. This approach provides better temperature uniformity in the crystal and higher dielectric strength for suppressing voltage breakdown and enabling faster thermal cycling rates.
ISSN:0094-243X
1551-7616
DOI:10.1063/1.3586132