Design and development of the 6–18 MeV electron beam system for medical and other applications

A system for the electron and photon therapy has been designed and developed at SAMEER, IITB, Mumbai. All the components of the system such as the 270° beam bending electromagnet, trim coils, magnet chamber, electron scattering foil, slits, applicators, etc., were designed and fabricated indigenously. The electrons of 6, 8, 9, 12, 15 and 18?MeV energies were provided by a linear accelerator, indigenously designed and made at SAMEER, IITB campus, Mumbai. The electron beam from the LINAC enters the magnet chamber horizontally, and after deflection and focusing in the 270° bending magnet, comes out of the exit port, and travels a straight path vertically down. After passing through the beryllium and tantalum scattering foils, the electron beam gets scattered and turns into a solid cone shape such that the diameter increases with the travel distance. The simulation results indicate that at the exit port of the 270° beam bending magnet, the electron beam has a divergence angle of ≤ 3?mrad and diameter ～2–3?mm, and remains constant over 6–18?MeV. Normally, 6–18?MeV electrons are used for the electron therapy of skin and malignant cancer near the skin surface. On a plane at a distance of 100?cm from the scattering foils, the size of the electron beam could be varied from 10?cm?×?10?cm to 25?cm?×?25?cm using suitable applicators and slits. Different types of applicators were therefore designed and fabricated to provide required beam profile and dose of electrons to a patient. The 6?MeV cyclic electron accelerator called Race-Track Microtron of S. P. Pune University, Pune, was extensively used for studying the performances of the scattering foils, electron beam uniformity and radiation dose measurement. Different types of thermoluminescent dosimetry dosimeters were developed to measure dose in the range of 1–10kGy.     

Simulation of radiation energy losses by channeled relativistic electrons in a crystal

A computer code is developed to calculate the radiation energy losses (RELs) of electrons during both 〈100〉 axis and (100) plane channeling in a thin Si crystal. A computer simulation of these losses is carried out by taking the initial angular divergence of the beam into account, and the REL dependences on the angle of electron entry into the crystal are obtained for both axial and planar channeling (orientational dependences). The calculations are carried out in connection with experiments on the interaction of 20–255 MeV electrons with crystals conducted at the SAGA Light Source linear accelerator (Tosu, Saga, Japan). The simulation results show the possibility of using the orientational dependence of the RELs of channeled electrons in thin crystals to diagnose the initial angular divergence of the electron beam and to orient crystals.     

2MeV注入器脉冲电子束时间分辨能谱诊断研究

 介绍了利用磁分析器和电子束产生的契伦科夫辐射光诊断直线感应加速器脉冲电子束时间分辨能谱的原理、方法及诊断系统，对中物院2MeV感应叠加型注入器的2kA强流脉冲电子束时间分辨能谱进行实验诊断，并与二极管电压进行对比分析。测得能量约2.2MeV，60ns内最大能量变化为4%。     

A study on beam profile of an industrial electron accelerator

Experimental evaluation of electron beam profile of a recently upgraded industrial electron accelerator has been carried out to study characteristics of the beam required for the irradiation of various industrial products. Calibrated cellulose triacetate (CTA) film strip dosimeters were used for the measurement of dose profile along and transverse to the scanning direction at different distances in air under the beam extraction window in dynamic (conveyor) and static mode of operation. Two-dimensional dose distribution mapping under the beam has also been measured by using a large number of CTA strip dosimeters. The obtained result shows that the electron beam emerging out from scanning horn has a good uniformity along the scanning direction within 90% of the average maximum dose. Also, the paper reports depth dose distribution in unit density material under the 4.5?MeV beam. Using this study, area affecting dose to the product is controlled within the limit for the irradiation.     

The use of recombination chambers at radiation therapy facilities

The paper presents an overview of the applications of recombination chambers for dosimetric measurements at radiotherapy facilities. The chambers were used at electron, proton and heavy ion accelerators, in the beam and in the vicinity of the accelerators at very different dose rates. The examples of measurements discussed in the paper include: the determination of the absorbed dose and radiation quality parameters of a 170 MeV proton beam and BNCT (boron neutron capture therapy) beam, neutron dose measurements at a phantom surface outside the beam of a 15 MV electron medical accelerator, determination of ambient dose equivalent, H1 (10) outside the irradiated phantom in the proton therapy treatment room at JINR (Dubna, Russia), and at working places outside the shielding of the heavy ion therapy facility at GSI (Darmstadt, Germany).     

基于蒙特卡罗方法的XHA600D医用电子直线加速器的入射电子束参数研究

使用蒙特卡罗方法研究入射电子束参数对XHA600D医用电子直线加速器产生的剂量分布的影响,并确定优化的入射电子束参数。根据厂商提供的XHA600D加速器治疗头的几何、材料参数,使用蒙特卡罗程序EGSnrc对不同的入射电子束参数进行模拟并记录其在水模体中产生的剂量分布,将模拟结果与测量结果进行比较。模拟的入射电子束参数包括平均能量、径向强度分布、角度展宽和能量展宽;实验测量数据包括4 cm×4 cm、10 cm×10 cm、30 cm×30 cm射野条件下的百分深度剂量与离轴剂量。结果表明当入射电子束的平均能量为6 MeV、径向强度的半高宽(Full Width at Half Maximum, FWHM)为0.25 cm、角度展宽为0.15°时,模拟结果和测量结果吻合非常好。这些参数可以作为建立适用于XHA600D加速器的TPS(Treatment Planning System)剂量计算模型的基础参数。     

Study on CYCIAE-100 radiation field and residual radioactivity

The accelerators should be properly designed to make the radiation field produced by beam loss satisfy the dose limits. The radiation field for high intensity H^－ cyclotron includes prompt radiation and residual radiation field. The induced radioactivity in accelerator components is the dominant source of occupational radiation exposure if the accelerator is well shielded. The source of radiation is the beam loss when cyclotron is operating. In this paper, the radiation field for CYCIAE-100 is calculated using Monte Carlo method and the radioactive contamination near stripping foil is studied. A method to reduce the dose equivalent rate of maintenance staff is also given.     

Study on CYCIAE-100 radiation field and residual radioactivity

The accelerators should be properly designed to make the radiation field produced by beam loss satisfy the dose limits. The radiation field for high intensity H- cyclotron includes prompt radiation and residual radiation field. The induced radioactivity in accelerator components is the dominant source of occupational radiation exposure if the accelerator is well shielded. The source of radiation is the beam loss when cyclotron is operating. In this paper, the radiation field for CYCIAE-100 is calculated using Monte Carlo method and the radioactive contamination near stripping foil is studied. A method to reduce the dose equivalent rate of maintenance staff is also given.     

电子辐射环境中NPN输入双极运算放大器的辐射效应和退火特性

本文对不同偏置下的NPN输入双极运算放大器LM108分别在1.8 MeV和1 MeV两种电子能量下、不同束流电子辐照环境中的损伤特性及变化规律进行了研究, 分析了不同偏置状态下其辐照敏感参数在辐照后三种温度 (室温, 100 ℃, 125 ℃) 下随时间变化的关系, 讨论了引起电参数失效的机理, 并且分析了器件在室温和高温的退火效应以讨论引起器件电参数失效的机理. 结果表明, 1.8 MeV和1 MeV 电子对运算放大器LM108主要产生电离损伤, 相同束流下1.8 MeV电子造成的损伤比1 MeV 电子更大, 相同能量下0.32 Gy(Si)/s束流电子产生的损伤大于1.53 Gy(Si)/s束流电子. 对于相同能量和束流的电子辐照, 器件零偏时的损伤大于正偏时的损伤. 器件辐照后的退火行为都与温度有较大的依赖关系, 而这种关系与辐照感生的界面态密度增长直接相关.     

95 MeV射频电子直线加速器辐射防护分析

应相关建设安评、环评、稳评以及职业健康评估的要求,电子加速器设计过程中即应对其辐射情况进行分析。针对电子能量为40～95 MeV可调的光阴极微波电子枪直线加速器,对其辐射源项进行分析,并讨论了可能的辐射防护措施的效果。采用蒙特卡罗软件FLUKA对电子束流和加速器进行建模,通过模拟计算发现,加速器产生的等效剂量分布主要位于废束桶中,废束桶以外辐射剂量迅速下降,在电子加速器实验大厅四周设置混凝土墙体的情况下辐射等效剂量率将随墙体厚度迅速下降。若混凝土墙体厚度设置为1 m,则墙体外工作人员所在区域辐射等效剂量率不高于1 μSv/h量级,能够有效屏蔽加速器产生的电离辐射,给工作人员提供有效防护。研究方法及结果对同能区同类型加速器建设中的辐射分析及辐射防护评估具有一定的参考价值。     

Physical design of a 10 MeV LINAC for polymer radiation processing

In China, polymer radiation processing has become one of the most important processing industries. The radiation processing source may be an electron beam accelerator or a radioactive source. Physical design of an electron beam facility applied for radiation crosslinking is introduced in this paper because of it’s much higher dose rate and efficiency. Main part of this facility is a 10 MeV travelling wave electron linac with constant impedance accelerating structure. A start to end simulation concerning the linac is reported in this paper. The codes Opera-3d, Poisson-superfish and Parmela are used to describe electromagnetic elements of the accelerator and track particle distribution from the cathode to the end of the linac. After beam dynamic optimization, wave phase velocities in the structure have been chosen to be 0.56, 0.9 and 0.999 respectively. Physical parameters about the main elements such as DC electron gun, iris-loaded periodic structure, solenoids, etc, are presented. Simulation results proves that it can satisfy the industrial requirement. The linac is under construction. Some components have been finished. Measurements proved that they are in a good agreement with the design values.     

Beam dynamics studies on the 100 MeV/100 kW electron linear accelerator for NSC KIPT neutron source

We designed a 100 MeV/100 kW electron linear accelerator for NSC KIPT, which will be used to drive a neutron source on the basis of subcritical assembly. Beam dynamics studies have been conducted to reach the design requirements (E=100 MeV, P=100 kW, dE/E<1% for 99% particles). In this paper, we will present the progress of the design and the dynamic simulation results. For high intensity and long beam pulse linear accelerators, the BBU effect is one big issue; special care has been taken in the accelerating structure design. To satisfy the energy spread requirement at the linac exit, the particles with large energy difference from the synchronous particle should be eliminated at a low energy stage to ease the design of the collimation system and radiation shielding. A dispersion free chicane with 4 bending magnets is introduced downstream of the 1st accelerating section; the unwanted particles will be collimated there.     

12MeV直线感应加速器二极管优化设计研究

 本文用MAGIC程序对设计的多种12MV直线感应加速器的二极管结构进行模拟计算,得出了二极管阴极表面电场强度分布,并根据实验研究结果,得到了结构最佳设计的二极管模型;随后利用扫描电镜方法对不同天鹅绒的结构进行了分析与发射性能实验研究。最后得到优化后的二极管产生的电子束束流参数为发射束流I_e=8.50kA,传输束流I₈=3.0kA ,打靶束流I₀=2.30kA。     

Evaluation of the dosimetric characteristics of a radiophotoluminescent glass dosimeter for high-energy photon and electron beams in the field of radiotherapy

We aimed to evaluate the suitability of a glass dosimeter (GD) for high-energy photon and electron beams in experimental and clinical use, especially for radiation therapy. We examined the expanded dosimetric characteristics of GDs including dose linearity up to 500 Gy, uniformity among GD lots and for individual GDs, the angular dependence, and energy dependence of 4 therapeutic x-ray qualities. In addition, we measured the dosimetric features (dose linearity, uniformity, angular dependence, and energy dependence) of the GD for electron beams of 10 different electron energy qualities. All measurements with the exception of dose linearity for photon beam were performed in a water phantom. For high-energy photon beams, dose linearity has a linear relationship for a dose ranging from 1 to 500 Gy with the coefficient of determination; R² of 0.998. The uniformity of each GD of dose measurements was within ±0.5% for four GD lots and within ±1.2% for 80 GDs. In terms of the effects of photon beam angle, lower absorbed doses of within 1.0% were observed between 60° and 105° than at 90°. The GD energy dependence of 4 photon beam energy qualities was within ±2.0%. On the other hand, the result of the dose linearity for high-energy electron beams showed well fitted regression line with the coefficient of determination; R² of 0.999 between 6 and 20 MeV. The uniformity of GDs exposed to the nominal electron energies 6, 9, 12, 16, and 20 MeV was ±1.2%. In terms of the angular dependence to electron beams, absorbed doses were within 2.0% between 60° and 105° than at 90°. In evaluation of the energy dependence of the GD at nominal electron energies between 5 and 20 MeV, we obtained responses between 1.1% and 3.5% lower than that for a cobalt-60 beam. Our results show that GDs can be used as a detector for determining doses when a high-energy photon beam is used, and that it also has considerable potential for dose measurement of high-energy electron beam.     

Determining the divergence of an ultra-relativistic electron beam from the diffracted transition radiation in a single-crystal target

We have studied the possibilities of using diffracted transition radiation excited by a relativistic electron beam in a single-crystal target to determine the beam divergence. For this purpose, we investigated the expressions we had previously derived that describe the angular density of diffracted transition radiation excited by a relativistic electron beam crossing a thin single-crystal plate. In our calculations, we used the two-parameter model distribution function to represent the angular distribution of ultra-relativistic electrons in the beam. For determining the beam divergence parameters, the methods of two-dimensional objective function minimization were used. The model calculations we performed confirm the efficiency of the above-mentioned methods for determining the divergence of a relativistic electron beam.     

辐照用紧凑连续波电子加速器的物理设计

为适应工业电子加速器需求增多的现状,提出了一种新型的结构紧凑的连续波电子加速器,运行频率为180MHz。依靠置于加速腔外的多个偏转磁铁,使电子束多次穿越加速腔,从而得到持续的加速。设计过程中,用CST软件对谐振加速腔进行了优化,用Parmela软件模拟了束流的粒子动力学。粒子纵向稳定度和横向聚焦也通过模拟进行了分析和验证。结果显示:此种新型加速器能得到9MeV,100kW的稳定电子束流。     

In0.53Ga0.47As/InP量子阱与体材料的1 MeV电子束辐照光致发光谱研究

为获得对In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP材料在电子束辐照下的光致发光谱变化规律, 开展了1 MeV电子束辐照试验, 注量为 5×10¹²-9×10¹⁴ cm^-2. 样品选取量子阱材料和体材料, 在辐照前后, 进行了光致发光谱测试, 得到了不同结构In_0.53Ga_0.47As/InP材料在1 MeV电子束辐照下的不同变化规律; 对比分析了参数退化的物理机理. 结果显示: 试验样品的光致发光峰强度随着辐照剂量增大而显著退化. 体材料最先出现快速退化, 而五层量子阱在注量达到6×10¹⁴ cm^-2时, 就已经退化至辐照前的9%. 经分析认为原因有: 1)电子束进入样品后, 与材料晶格发生能量传递, 破坏晶格完整性, 致使产生的激子数量减少, 光致发光强度降低; 电子束辐照在材料中引入缺陷, 增加了非辐射复合中心密度, 导致载流子迁移率降低. 2)量子阱的二维限制作用使载流子运动受限, 从而能够降低载流子与非辐射复合中心的复合概率; 敏感区域截面积相同条件下, 体材料比量子阱材料辐射损伤更为严重. 3)量子阱的层数越多, 则异质结界面数越多, 相应的产生的界面缺陷数量也随之增多, 辐射损伤越严重.     

集装箱检测系统用加速器电子枪的特性研究

 研究了固定式海关集装箱检测系统用9MeV电子行波直线加速器电子枪的结构特点和束流特性。该电子枪采用钪酸盐阴极,在灯丝电流为2.4A,阳极引出电压为-40kV的工作条件下,由电子枪发射到加速器入口处的脉冲电流强度为300mA,在加速器出口处,束斑截面小于φ2mm;打靶后,产生的X射线剂量率大于30cGy/(min× m)。电子枪的良好特性及束流强度保证了集装箱检测图像所需的高分辨率的要求。为保证满足更换电子枪时的安装要求,利用EGUN程序模拟计算了电子枪的结构及束流特性,为实际装配和使用提供了参考尺寸和调试参数。     

用于温密物质研究的强流电子束加载技术

能量20 MeV、流强2.5 kA的电子束脉冲可以在数十ns的时间内将靶材料加载至温密物质状态，进而可以开展材料状态方程、电导率以及不透明度等的实验研究工作。介绍了在神龙一号加速器上开展温密物质实验研究的束靶作用方式以及相应的测试技术。对电子束在直径0.3 mm、长1 mm的金属靶丝内的能量沉积和流体动力学响应进行了数值模拟。结果表明:靶丝的温度随着靶材料原子序数的增加而上升，而靶丝内温度分布的均匀性随着原子序数的增加而降低；在电子束加载后40 ns时刻Ta丝内的最高温度可以达到约1.6 eV。     

蒙特卡罗模拟分析电子束发射度对照射量空间分布影响

加速器靶前正前方1 m处的照射量是衡量加速器光源辐射能力的重要物理参量。电子束轰击高原子序数靶产生的X射线空间分布具有很强的前冲性,照射量空间分布与电子束的发射度密切相关。采用高斯函数对不同电子束发射度条件下入射电子的空间分布和角度分布进行建模。应用蒙特卡罗方法对电子束打靶的轫致辐射过程进行模拟,分析电子束发射度对照射量的影响。同时还对整靶结构和叠靶结构下的轫致辐射光源照射量进行计算比较。结果表明,电子束的发散角是影响轫致辐射光源照射量的主要因素。与采用整靶结构相比,采用叠靶结构所获得的照射量空间分布基本一致,在正前方小角度范围内（0~4）的照射量有2%~3%的降低。