Measurement of the fragmentation of Carbon nuclei used in hadron-therapy

✍ Scribed by G. De Lellis; S. Buontempo; F. Di Capua; A. Di Crescenzo; P. Migliozzi; Y. Petukhov; C. Pistillo; A. Russo; P. Strolin; V. Tioukov; M. Durante; Y. Furusawa; T. Toshito; N. Yasuda; A. Ariga; N. Naganawa

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 243 KB
• Volume: 853
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0375-9474
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2011.01.019

✦ Synopsis

The increasing use of Carbon nuclei in cancer therapy centres is motivated by their potential advantages as a very precise high LET radiation. The knowledge of the fragmentation of Carbon nuclei when they interact with the human body is important to evaluate the spatial profile of their energy deposition in the tissues, hence the damage to the tissues neighbouring the tumour. We report here a study of the fragmentation with the nuclear emulsion experimental technique. We have designed, built and exposed to a Carbon nuclei beam a chamber made of Lexan plates alternated with nuclear emulsion films. Lexan plates acted as passive material simulating human body tissues while nuclear emulsion films were used as both tracking devices with micrometric accuracy and ionisation detectors. Such a detector allowed the detection of Carbon interactions produced along their path, the identification of the fragments produced and the measurement of