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DOE OSTI2022

Dual Energy Electron Storage Ring Cooler Design for Relativistic Ion Beams

Collider experiments demand small beam emittances in order to achieve high luminosity. For light particles such as electrons, there exists a natural synchrotron radiation damping resulting in low emittance beams at equilibrium. In the case of heavy particle beams such as proton or ion beams, there is no significant synchrotron radiation damping effect and some cooling mechanism is needed to get to low emittance beams. A dual energy storage ring cooler is a novel concept proposed to cool hadron beams at higher energies. The design consists of two rings: a low energy ring and a high energy ring connected by the energy recovering linac (ERL) that provides the necessary energy difference. The low energy ring has an electron cooler where the cooling interaction takes place between the electron and hadron beams whereas electron beam going through the high energy ring undergoes synchrotron radiation damping. In this document, we present a possible design of a dual energy storage ring-based electron cooler for high energy proton beam cooling suitable for the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) to be built at Brookhaven National laboratory (BNL). A special feature of a dual energy storage ring cooler design is that the electron beam energy in the low energy section must be tuned to match the hadron beam velocity in the cooling section, and the electron beam energy in the high energy section is chosen to provide an adequate synchrotron radiation damping. In addition, the ring optics design is carried out considering chromaticity correction, dynamic aperture, momentum aperture, beam lifetime, radiation damping and the intrabeam scattering effect. Finally, the cooling performance is simulated for 275 GeV proton beams at the top energy of the EIC. In such a collider it is desirable to cool the hadron beams to balance the emittance growth rates due to intra-beam scattering (IBS) to maintain a high luminosity during the collision runs. In such a situation, a dual energy storage ring based cooler could be a practical approach to be used for hadron beam cooling.

Dhital, Bhawin↗

DOE OSTI2015

A comparison of phantom scatter from flattened and flattening filter free high-energy photon beams

Flattening filter free (FFF) photon beams have different dosimetric properties from those of flattened beams. The aim of this work was to characterize the collimator scatter (S{sub c}) and total scatter (S{sub cp}) from 3 FFF beams of differing quality indices and use the resulting mathematical fits to generate phantom scatter (S{sub p}) data. The similarities and differences between S{sub p} of flattened and FFF beams are described. S{sub c} and S{sub cp} data were measured for 3 flattened and 3 FFF high-energy photon beams (Varian 6 and 10 MV and Elekta 6 MV). These data were fitted to logarithmic power law functions with 4 numerical coefficients. The agreement between our experimentally determined flattened beam S{sub p} and published data was within ± 1.2% for all 3 beams investigated and all field sizes from 4 × 4 to 40 × 40 cm{sup 2}. For the FFF beams, S{sub p} was only within 1% of the same flattened beam published data for field sizes between 6 × 6 and 14 × 14 cm{sup 2}. Outside this range, the differences were much greater, reaching − 3.2%, − 4.5%, and − 4.3% for the fields of 40 × 40 cm{sup 2} for the Varian 6-MV, Varian 10-MV, and Elekta 6-MV FFF beams, respectively. The FFF beam S{sub p} increased more slowly with increasing field size than that of the published and measured flattened beam of a similar reference field size quality index, i.e., there is less Phantom Scatter than that found with flattened beams for a given field size. This difference can be explained when the fluence profiles of the flattened and FFF beams are considered. The FFF beam has greatly reduced fluence off axis, especially as field size increases, compared with the flattened beam profile; hence, less scatter is generated in the phantom reaching the central axis.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

DOE OSTI2012

Towards demonstration of electron cooling with bunched electron beam

All electron cooling systems which were in operation so far employed electron beam generated with an electrostatic electron gun in DC operating mode, immersed in a longitudinal magnetic field. At low energies magnetic field is also being used to transport electron beam through the cooling section from the gun to the collector. At higher energies (few MeV), it was shown that one can have simpler electron beam transport without continuous magnetic field. Because of a rather weak magnetic field on the cathode and in the cooling section the latter approach was referred to as 'non-magnetized cooling', since there was no suppression of the transverse angular spread of the electron beam with the magnetic field in the cooling section. Such a cooler successfully operated at FNAL (2005-11) at electron beam energy of 4.3 MeV. Providing cooling at even higher energies would be easier with RF acceleration of electron beam, and thus using bunched electron beam for cooling. Significant efforts were devoted to explore various aspects of such bunched electron beam cooling as part of R and D of high-energy electron cooling for RHIC. However, experimental studies of such cooling are still lacking. Establishing this technique experimentally would be extremely useful for future high-energy applications. Presently there is an ongoing effort to build Proof-of-Principle (PoP) experiment of Coherent Electron Cooling (CEC) at RHIC, which promises to be superior to conventional electron cooling for high energies. Since the CEC experiment is based on bunched electron beam and it has sections where electron beam co-propagates with the ion beam at the same velocity, it also provides a unique opportunity to explore experimentally conventional electron cooling but for the first time with a bunched electron beam. As a result, it allows us to explore techniques needed for the high-energy electron cooling such as 'painting' with a short electron beam and control of ion beam distribution under cooling which is essential if cooling is provided in a collider. The software needed for comparison with the experiments is already developed as part of the previous high-energy electron cooling studies for RHIC. Since electron beam will be non-magnetized and there will be no magnetic field in the cooling section it will be also a first demonstration of fully non-magnetized cooling. The purpose of these studies was to explore whether we would be able to observe conventional electron cooling with parameters expected in the CEC PoP experiment. Below we summarize requirements on electron beam and cooling section needed for such demonstration.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-T-353: Decoding the Beam Complexity in Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy Plans

Purpose: Modern IMRT relies on computers to generate treatment plans of varied complexity. A highly complex treatment plan may use a large number of small and irregular beam apertures in order to achieve high dose conformity. However, excessive beam complexity can increase dosimetric uncertainty, prolong treatment time, and increase susceptibility to target or organ motion. In this study we sought to develop metrics to assess the complexity of IMRT beams and plans. Methods: Based the information of leaf positions and MU for each beam segment, we calculated the following beam complexity metrics: aperture area, shape irregularity, and beam modulation. Then these beam complexity metrics were averaged to obtain the corresponding plan complexity metrics, using the beam MUs as weighting factors. We evaluated and compared the beam and plan complexity scores for 65 IMRT plans from 3 sites (prostate, head and neck, and spine). We also studied how the plan complexity scores were affected by adjusting inverse planning parameters. Results: For prostate IMRT, the lateral beams had large MUs and smaller shape irregularity, while the anterior or posterior beams had larger modulation values. On average, the prostate IMRT plans had the smallest shape irregularity and beam modulation; the HN IMRT plans had the largest aperture area, shape irregularity, and beam modulation; and the spine stereotactic IMRT plans often had small aperture area, which may be associated with relatively large discrepancies between calculated and measures doses. The plan complexity increased as the number of optimization iterations and the number of beam segments increased and as the minimum segment area decreased. Conclusion: Complexity of IMRT beams and plans were quantified in terms of aperture area, shape irregularity and beam modulation. The complexity metrics varied among IMRT plans for different disease sites and were affected when the planning parameters were adjusted.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-T-464: On the Equivalence of the Quality Correction Factor for Pencil Beam Scanning Proton Therapy

Purpose: In current practice, most proton therapy centers apply IAEA TRS-398 reference dosimetry protocol. Quality correction factors (kQ) take into account in the dose determination process the differences in beam qualities used for calibration unit and for treatment unit. These quality correction factors are valid for specific reference conditions. TRS-398 reference conditions should be achievable in both scattered proton beams (i.e. DS) and scanned proton beams (i.e. PBS). However, it is not a priori clear if TRS-398 kQ data, which are based on Monte Carlo (MC) calculations in scattered beams, can be used for scanned beams. Using TOPAS-Geant4 MC simulations, the study aims to determine whether broad beam quality correction factors calculated in TRS-398 can be directly applied to PBS delivery modality. Methods: As reference conditions, we consider a 10×10×10 cm{sup 3} homogeneous dose distribution delivered by PBS system in a water phantom (32/10 cm range/modulation) and an air cavity placed at the center of the spread-out-Bragg-peak. In order to isolate beam differences, a hypothetical broad beam is simulated. This hypothetical beam reproduces exactly the same range modulation, and uses the same energy layers than the PBS field. Ion chamber responses are computed for the PBS and hypothetical beams and then compared. Results: For an air cavity of 2×2×0.2 cm{sup 3}, the ratio of ion chamber responses for the PBS and hypothetical beam qualities is 0.9991 ± 0.0016. Conclusion: Quality correction factors are insensitive to the delivery pattern of the beam (broad beam or PBS), as long as similar dose distributions are achieved. This investigation, for an air cavity, suggests that broad beam quality correction factors published in TRS-398 can be applied for scanned beams. J. Sorriaux is financially supported by a public-private partnership involving the company Ion Beam Applications (IBA)

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

DOE OSTI2016

SU-F-T-372: Surface and Peripheral Dose in Compensator-Based FFF Beam IMRT

Purpose: Flattening filter free (FFF) beams produce higher dose rates. Combined with compensator IMRT techniques, the dose delivery for each beam can be much shorter compared to the flattened beam MLC-based or compensator-based IMRT. This ‘snap shot’ IMRT delivery is beneficial to patients for tumor motion management. Due to softer energy, surface doses in FFF beam treatment are usually higher than those from flattened beams. Because of less scattering due to no flattening filter, peripheral doses are usually lower in FFF beam treatment. However, in compensator-based IMRT using FFF beams, the compensator is in the beam pathway. Does it introduce beam hardening effects and scattering such that the surface dose is lower and peripheral dose is higher compared to FFF beam MLC-based IMRT? Methods: This study applied Monte Carlo techniques to investigate the surface and peripheral doses in compensator-based IMRT using FFF beams and compared it to the MLC-based IMRT using FFF beams and flattened beams. Besides various thicknesses of copper slabs to simulate various thicknesses of compensators, a simple cone-shaped compensator was simulated to mimic a clinical application. The dose distribution in water phantom by the cone-shaped compensator was then simulated by multiple MLC defined FFF and flattened beams with various openings. After normalized to Dmax, the surface and peripheral dose was compared between the FFF beam compensator-based IMRT and FFF/flattened beam MLC-based IMRT. Results: The surface dose at the central 0.5mm depth was close between the compensator and 6FFF MLC dose distributions, and about 8% (of Dmax) higher than the flattened 6MV MLC dose. At 8cm off axis at dmax, the peripheral dose between the 6FFF and flattened 6MV MLC demonstrated similar doses, while the compensator dose was about 1% higher. Conclusion: Compensator does not reduce the surface doses but slightly increases the peripheral doses due to scatter inside compensator.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2015

Automatic learning-based beam angle selection for thoracic IMRT

Purpose: The treatment of thoracic cancer using external beam radiation requires an optimal selection of the radiation beam directions to ensure effective coverage of the target volume and to avoid unnecessary treatment of normal healthy tissues. Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) planning is a lengthy process, which requires the planner to iterate between choosing beam angles, specifying dose–volume objectives and executing IMRT optimization. In thorax treatment planning, where there are no class solutions for beam placement, beam angle selection is performed manually, based on the planner’s clinical experience. The purpose of this work is to propose and study a computationally efficient framework that utilizes machine learning to automatically select treatment beam angles. Such a framework may be helpful for reducing the overall planning workload. Methods: The authors introduce an automated beam selection method, based on learning the relationships between beam angles and anatomical features. Using a large set of clinically approved IMRT plans, a random forest regression algorithm is trained to map a multitude of anatomical features into an individual beam score. An optimization scheme is then built to select and adjust the beam angles, considering the learned interbeam dependencies. The validity and quality of the automatically selected beams evaluated using the manually selected beams from the corresponding clinical plans as the ground truth. Results: The analysis included 149 clinically approved thoracic IMRT plans. For a randomly selected test subset of 27 plans, IMRT plans were generated using automatically selected beams and compared to the clinical plans. The comparison of the predicted and the clinical beam angles demonstrated a good average correspondence between the two (angular distance 16.8° ± 10°, correlation 0.75 ± 0.2). The dose distributions of the semiautomatic and clinical plans were equivalent in terms of primary target volume coverage and organ at risk sparing and were superior over plans produced with fixed sets of common beam angles. The great majority of the automatic plans (93%) were approved as clinically acceptable by three radiation therapy specialists. Conclusions: The results demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing a learning-based approach for automatic selection of beam angles in thoracic IMRT planning. The proposed method may assist in reducing the manual planning workload, while sustaining plan quality.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2012

Towards Demonstration of Electron Cooling with Bunched Electron Beam

All electron cooling systems which were in operation so far employed electron beam generated with an electrostatic electron gun in DC operating mode, immersed in a longitudinal magnetic field. At low energies magnetic field is also being used to transport electron beam through the cooling section from the gun to the collector. At higher energies (few MeV), it was shown that one can have simpler electron beam transport without continuous magnetic field. Because of a rather weak magnetic field on the cathode and in the cooling section the latter approach was referred to as “non-magnetized cooling”, since there was no suppression of the transverse angular spread of the electron beam with the magnetic field in the cooling section. Such a cooler successfully operated at FNAL (2005-11) at electron beam energy of 4.3 MeV. Providing cooling at even higher energies would be easier with RF acceleration of electron beam, and thus using bunched electron beam for cooling. Significant efforts were devoted to explore various aspects of such bunched electron beam cooling as part of R&D of high-energy electron cooling for RHIC. However, experimental studies of such cooling are still lacking. Establishing this technique experimentally would be extremely useful for future high-energy applications. Presently there is an ongoing effort to build Proof-of-Principle (PoP) experiment of Coherent Electron Cooling (CEC) at RHIC, which promises to be superior to conventional electron cooling for high energies. Since the CEC experiment is based on bunched electron beam and it has sections where electron beam co-propagates with the ion beam at the same velocity, it also provides a unique opportunity to explore experimentally conventional electron cooling but for the first time with a bunched electron beam. As a result, it allows us to explore techniques needed for the high-energy electron cooling such as “painting” with a short electron beam and control of ion beam distribution under cooling which is essential if cooling is provided in a collider. The software needed for comparison with the experiments is already developed as part of the previous high-energy electron cooling studies for RHIC. Since electron beam will be non-magnetized and there will be no magnetic field in the cooling section it will be also a first demonstration of fully non-magnetized cooling. The purpose of these studies was to explore whether we would be able to observe conventional electron cooling with parameters expected in the CEC PoP experiment. Below we summarize requirements on electron beam and cooling section needed for such demonstration.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2019

Proton Beam Emittance Growth due to Centroid Fluctuations in Strongly Disrupted Electron Bunches in the Linac-Ring eRHIC

In the energy recovery linac (ERL) based eRHIC design, the electron beam, accelerated in a superconducting ERL, collides with the proton beam circulating in the RHIC ring ones, undergoing a very strong beam-beam interaction with the protons, which warrants careful examination. Following the analysis of the transverse disruption and linear mismatch effects in the electron beam caused by beam-beam collision discussed in [2], we adopt the beam parameters listed in Table I for the eRHIC linac-ring design. After a review of the electron disruption process, we perform long term strong-strong beam-beam simulations with a modification of K. Ohmi’s strong-strong beam-beam code BBSS, with the modification consisting of the regeneration of the electron beam after every collision with the proton beam. With the parameters listed in Table I, a kink instability is observed in the proton beam. By reducing the proton bunch length, thus decreasing the electron disruption parameter, the kink instability is observed to disappear for a proton bunch length σ z,p < 10 cm, or electron disruption parameter d e < 1.5. The effect of random offsets in the electron bunch centroids on the long term stability of the proton beam is studied next, with a proton bunch length σ z,p = 6.3 cm (d e = 0.9), thus below the kink instability threshold. The random offsets of the electron bunch centroids are assumed to be Gaussian distributed, with standard deviation offs, and "delta-correlated" in time (white noise). Studies to take into account finite time-correlation effects and random offsets generated by non-Gaussian random processes will be considered in the future. The effect from fluctuations in the electron bunch population has been studied analytically and will be discussed numerically in a companion paper.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2021

Angled slit design for computed tomographic imaging of electron beams

Computed tomographic method and apparatus includes an electron or ion beam having a beam axis, a refractory metal disk; at least one slit in the refractory metal disk that receive the beam, wherein the slit is at an angle to the beam axis; a beam entrance opening in the slit that allows the beam to enter; an effective beam exit opening in the slit that allow the beam to exit, wherein the beam effective exit opening is smaller than the beam entrance opening; and a system for moving the beam across the refractory metal disk, wherein the beam enters the slit through the beam entrance opening and exits the slit through the effective beam exit opening; and a computed tomographic device for measuring the beam that enters and exits the slit for analyzing the beam.

Elmer, John W.↗

DOE OSTI2016

SU-F-T-487: On-Site Beam Matching of An Elekta Infinity with Agility MLC with An Elekta Versa HD

Purpose: Historically, beam matching of similar Linear Accelerators has been accomplished by sending beam data to the manufacturer to match at their factory. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate that fine beam matching can be carried out on-site as part of the acceptance test, with similar or better results. Methods: Initial scans of a 10 × 10 Percent depth dose (PDD) and a 40 × 40 beam profile at the depth of Dmax, for 6MV and 10 MV were taken to compare with the standard beam data from the Versa. The energy was then adjusted and the beam steered to achieve agreement between the depth dose and the horns of the beam profile. This process was repeated until the best agreement between PDD and profiles was achieved. Upon completion, all other clinical data were measured to verify match. This included PDD, beam profiles, output factors and Wedge factors. For electron beams PDD’s were matched and the beam profiles verified for the final beam energy. Confirmatory PDD and beam profiles for clinical field sizes, as well as Output Factors were measured. Results: The average difference in PDD’s for 6MV and 10MV were within 0.4% for both wedged and open fields. Beam profile comparisons over the central 80% of the field, at multiple depths, show agreement of 0.8% or less for both wedged and open fields. Average output factor agreement over all field sizes was 0.4% for 6MV and 0.2 % for 10MV. Wedge factors agreement was less than 0.6% for both photon energies over all field sizes. Electron PDD agreed to 0.5mm. Cone ratios agreed to 1% or less. Conclusion: This work indicates that beam matching can be carried out on-site simply and quickly. The results of this beam matching can achieve similar or better results than factory matching.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2012

Quality correction factors of composite IMRT beam deliveries: Theoretical considerations

Purpose: In the scope of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) dosimetry using ionization chambers, quality correction factors of plan-class-specific reference (PCSR) fields are theoretically investigated. The symmetry of the problem is studied to provide recommendable criteria for composite beam deliveries where correction factors are minimal and also to establish a theoretical limit for PCSR delivery k{sub Q} factors. Methods: The concept of virtual symmetric collapsed (VSC) beam, being associated to a given modulated composite delivery, is defined in the scope of this investigation. Under symmetrical measurement conditions, any composite delivery has the property of having a k{sub Q} factor identical to its associated VSC beam. Using this concept of VSC, a fundamental property of IMRT k{sub Q} factors is demonstrated in the form of a theorem. The sensitivity to the conditions required by the theorem is thoroughly examined. Results: The theorem states that if a composite modulated beam delivery produces a uniform dose distribution in a volume V{sub cyl} which is symmetric with the cylindrical delivery and all beams fulfills two conditions in V{sub cyl}: (1) the dose modulation function is unchanged along the beam axis, and (2) the dose gradient in the beam direction is constant for a given lateral position; then its associated VSC beam produces no lateral dose gradient in V{sub cyl}, no matter what beam modulation or gantry angles are being used. The examination of the conditions required by the theorem lead to the following results. The effect of the depth-dose gradient not being perfectly constant with depth on the VSC beam lateral dose gradient is found negligible. The effect of the dose modulation function being degraded with depth on the VSC beam lateral dose gradient is found to be only related to scatter and beam hardening, as the theorem holds also for diverging beams. Conclusions: The use of the symmetry of the problem in the present paper leads to a valuable theorem showing that k{sub Q} factors of composite IMRT beam deliveries are close to unity under specific conditions. The theoretical limit k{sub Q{sub p{sub c{sub s{sub r,Q{sub m{sub s{sub r}{sup f{sub p}{sub c}{sub s}{sub r},f{sub m}{sub s}{sub r}}}}}}}}}=1 is determined based on the property of PCSR deliveries to provide a uniform dose in the target volume. The present approach explains recent experimental observations and proposes ideal conditions for IMRT reference dosimetry. The result of this study could potentially serve as a theoretical basis for reference dosimetry of composite IMRT beam deliveries or for routine IMRT quality assurance.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2013

Fan-beam intensity modulated proton therapy

Purpose: This paper presents a concept for a proton therapy system capable of delivering intensity modulated proton therapy using a fan beam of protons. This system would allow present and future gantry-based facilities to deliver state-of-the-art proton therapy with the greater normal tissue sparing made possible by intensity modulation techniques.Methods: A method for producing a divergent fan beam of protons using a pair of electromagnetic quadrupoles is described and particle transport through the quadrupole doublet is simulated using a commercially available software package. To manipulate the fan beam of protons, a modulation device is developed. This modulator inserts or retracts acrylic leaves of varying thickness from subsections of the fan beam. Each subsection, or beam channel, creates what effectively becomes a beam spot within the fan area. Each channel is able to provide 0–255 mm of range shift for its associated beam spot, or stop the beam and act as an intensity modulator. Results of particle transport simulations through the quadrupole system are incorporated into the MCNPX Monte Carlo transport code along with a model of the range and intensity modulation device. Several design parameters were investigated and optimized, culminating in the ability to create topotherapy treatment plans using distal-edge tracking on both phantom and patient datasets.Results: Beam transport calculations show that a pair of electromagnetic quadrupoles can be used to create a divergent fan beam of 200 MeV protons over a distance of 2.1 m. The quadrupole lengths were 30 and 48 cm, respectively, with transverse field gradients less than 20 T/m, which is within the range of water-cooled magnets for the quadrupole radii used. MCNPX simulations of topotherapy treatment plans suggest that, when using the distal edge tracking delivery method, many delivery angles are more important than insisting on narrow beam channel widths in order to obtain conformal target coverage. Overall, the sharp distal falloff of a proton depth-dose distribution was found to provide sufficient control over the dose distribution to meet objectives, even with coarse lateral resolution and channel widths as large as 2 cm. Treatment plans on both phantom and patient data show that dose conformity suffers when treatments are delivered from less than approximately ten angles. Treatment time for a sample prostate delivery is estimated to be on the order of 10 min, and neutron production is estimated to be comparable to that found for existing collimated systems.Conclusions: Fan beam proton therapy is a method of delivering intensity modulated proton therapy which may be employed as an alternative to magnetic scanning systems. A fan beam of protons can be created by a set of quadrupole magnets and modified by a dual-purpose range and intensity modulator. This can be used to deliver inversely planned treatments, with spot intensities optimized to meet user defined dose objectives. Additionally, the ability of a fan beam delivery system to effectively treat multiple beam spots simultaneously may provide advantages as compared to spot scanning deliveries.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

DOE OSTI2016

SU-F-T-214: Re-Thinking the Useful Clinical Beam Energy in Proton Therapy: An Opportunity for Cost Reduction

Purpose: We conducted a retrospective study of the useful clinical proton beam energy based on the beam range data of patients treated over the last 10 years at Massachusetts General Hospital Proton Therapy Center. Methods: Treatment field information were collected for all patients treated over the last 10 years (2005–2015) in the two gantry treatment rooms at MGH. The beam ranges for these fields were retrieved and categorized per treatment site. The 10 prostate patients that required the highest beam range (lateral fields) were selected. For these patients, anterior oblique beams (30–40 degrees) were simulated in a planning system to obtain the required beam ranges including the margins for potential range uncertainties. Results: There were a total of 4033 patients, treated with combined total of 23603 fields. All treatment indications were considered with the exception of ocular tumors generally treated in a fixed beam room. For all non-prostate treatments (21811 fields), only 5 fields for 4 patients (1-pancreas, 1-lumbar chordoma, 2-spine mets) required beam range greater than 25 cm. There were 446 prostate patients (1792 fields), with the required beam range from 22.3 to 29.0 cm; 386 of them had at least one of their lateral beam range greater than 25 cm. For the 10 prostate patients with highest lateral beam ranges (26 to 29 cm), their treatment with anterior oblique beams would drop the beam ranges below 25 cm (17.3 to 18.5 cm). Conclusion: if prostate patients are treated with anterior fields only, the useful maximum beam range is reduced to 25 cm. Thus a proton therapy system with maximum beam energy of 196 MeV is sufficient to treat all tumors sites with very rare exceptions (<0.1%). Designing such PT system would reduce the cost of proton therapy for hospitals and patients and increase the accessibility to the treatment.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2016

SU-F-T-491: Photon Beam Matching Analysis at Multiple Sites Up to Twelve Years Post Installation

Purpose: To determine if the photon beams associated with several models of accelerators are matched with ‘Golden Beam’ data (VGBD) to assess treatment planning modeling and delivery. Methods: Six accelerators’ photon beams were evaluated to determine if they matched the manufacturer’s (Varian Medical Systems, Inc.) VGBD. Additional direct comparisons of the 6X and 18X beams using the manufacturer’s specification of Basic and Fine beam matching were also performed. The Cseries accelerator models were 21 EX (3), IX (2), and a IX Trilogy, ranging from three to twelve years post installation. Computerized beam scanning was performed (IBA Blue Phantom 2) with 2 CC13 ion chambers in water at 100 cm SSD. Dmax (10 cm2 field size), percentage depth dose (6 cm2, 10 cm2, 20 cm2, and 30 cm2 field sizes) and beam uniformity (10 cm2, 30 cm2 and 40 cm2 field sizes) were evaluated. Results: When comparing the beams with VGBD using the ‘Basic’ matching criteria, all beams were within the specifications ( 1.5mm at dmax, 1% PDD, and 2% Profiles). When considering the “Fine” matching criteria ( 1.5mm at dmax, 0.5% PDD, and 2% Profiles), only three of six 6MV beams and two of six high energy (five 18MV & one 15MV) beams passed. Direct comparisons between accelerators using the Clinac IX (installed 2012) as the reference beam datasets resulted in all 6 MV and 18MV beams meeting both the “Basic” and “Fine” criterion with the exception of two accelerators. Conclusion: Linear accelerators installed up to nine years apart are capable of meeting the manufacturers beam matching criteria for “Basic” matching. Without any adjustments most beams, when evaluated, may meet the “Fine” match criteria. The use of a single dataset (VGBD or designated accelerator reference data) for treatment planning commissioning is acceptable and can provide quality treatment delivery.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

DOE OSTI2012

Optimization of a charge-state analyzer for electron cyclotron resonance ion source beams

A detailed experimental and simulation study of the extraction of a 24 keV He{sup +} beam from an ECR ion source and the subsequent beam transport through an analyzing magnet is presented. We find that such a slow ion beam is very sensitive to space-charge forces, but also that the neutralization of the beam's space charge by secondary electrons is virtually complete for beam currents up to at least 0.5 mA. The beam emittance directly behind the extraction system is 65 {pi} mm mrad and is determined by the fact that the ion beam is extracted in the strong magnetic fringe field of the ion source. The relatively large emittance of the beam and its non-paraxiality lead, in combination with a relatively small magnet gap, to significant beam losses and a five-fold increase of the effective beam emittance during its transport through the analyzing magnet. The calculated beam profile and phase-space distributions in the image plane of the analyzing magnet agree well with measurements. The kinematic and magnet aberrations have been studied using the calculated second-order transfer map of the analyzing magnet, with which we can reproduce the phase-space distributions of the ion beam behind the analyzing magnet. Using the transfer map and trajectory calculations we have worked out an aberration compensation scheme based on the addition of compensating hexapole components to the main dipole field by modifying the shape of the poles. The simulations predict that by compensating the kinematic and geometric aberrations in this way and enlarging the pole gap the overall beam transport efficiency can be increased from 16% to 45%.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2012

A One-Step Cone-Beam CT-Enabled Planning-to-Treatment Model for Palliative Radiotherapy-From Development to Implementation

Purpose: To develop a cone-beam computed tomography (CT)-enabled one-step simulation-to-treatment process for the treatment of bone metastases. Methods and Materials: A three-phase prospective study was conducted. Patients requiring palliative radiotherapy to the spine, mediastinum, or abdomen/pelvis suitable for treatment with simple beam geometry ({<=}2 beams) were accrued. Phase A established the accuracy of cone-beam CT images for the purpose of gross tumor target volume (GTV) definition. Phase B evaluated the feasibility of implementing the cone-beam CT-enabled planning process at the treatment unit. Phase C evaluated the online cone-beam CT-enabled process for the planning and treatment of patients requiring radiotherapy for bone metastases. Results: Eighty-four patients participated in this study. Phase A (n = 9) established the adequacy of cone-beam CT images for target definition. Phase B (n = 45) established the quality of treatment plans to be adequate for clinical implementation for bone metastases. When the process was applied clinically in bone metastases (Phase C), the degree of overlap between planning computed tomography (PCT) and cone-beam CT for GTV and between PCT and cone-beam CT for treatment field was 82% {+-} 11% and 97% {+-} 4%, respectively. The oncologist's decision to accept the plan under a time-pressured environment remained of high quality, with the cone-beam CT-generated treatment plan delivering at least 90% of the prescribed dose to 100% {+-} 0% of the cone-beam CT planning target volume (PTV). With the assumption that the PCT PTV is the gold-standard target, the cone-beam CT-generated treatment plan delivered at least 90% and at least 95% of dose to 98% {+-} 2% and 97% {+-} 5% of the PCT PTV, respectively. The mean time for the online planning and treatment process was 32.7 {+-} 4.0 minutes. Patient satisfaction was high, with a trend for superior satisfaction with the cone-beam CT-enabled process. Conclusions: The cone-beam CT-enabled palliative treatment process is feasible and is ready for clinical implementation for the treatment of bone metastases using simple beam geometry, providing a streamlined one-step process toward palliative radiotherapy.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

DOE OSTI2013

Evaluation of an aSi-EPID with flattening filter free beams: Applicability to the GLAaS algorithm for portal dosimetry and first experience for pretreatment QA of RapidArc

Purpose: To demonstrate the feasibility of portal dosimetry with an amorphous silicon mega voltage imager for flattening filter free (FFF) photon beams by means of the GLAaS methodology and to validate it for pretreatment quality assurance of volumetric modulated arc therapy (RapidArc).Methods: The GLAaS algorithm, developed for flattened beams, was applied to FFF beams of nominal energy of 6 and 10 MV generated by a Varian TrueBeam (TB). The amorphous silicon electronic portal imager [named mega voltage imager (MVI) on TB] was used to generate integrated images that were converted into matrices of absorbed dose to water. To enable GLAaS use under the increased dose-per-pulse and dose-rate conditions of the FFF beams, new operational source-detector-distance (SDD) was identified to solve detector saturation issues. Empirical corrections were defined to account for the shape of the profiles of the FFF beams to expand the original methodology of beam profile and arm backscattering correction. GLAaS for FFF beams was validated on pretreatment verification of RapidArc plans for three different TB linacs. In addition, the first pretreatment results from clinical experience on 74 arcs were reported in terms of γ analysis.Results: MVI saturates at 100 cm SDD for FFF beams but this can be avoided if images are acquired at 150 cm for all nominal dose rates of FFF beams. Rotational stability of the gantry-imager system was tested and resulted in a minimal apparent imager displacement during rotation of 0.2 ± 0.2 mm at SDD = 150 cm. The accuracy of this approach was tested with three different Varian TrueBeam linacs from different institutes. Data were stratified per energy and machine and showed no dependence with beam quality and MLC model. The results from clinical pretreatment quality assurance, provided a gamma agreement index (GAI) in the field area for six and ten FFF beams of (99.8 ± 0.3)% and (99.5 ± 0.6)% with distance to agreement and dose difference criteria set to 3 mm/3% with 2 mm/2% thresholds, GAI resulted (95.7.0 ± 2.3)% and (97.2 ± 2.1)%.Conclusions: The GLAaS methodology, introduced in clinical practice for conventional flattened photon beams for machine, IMRT, and RapidArc quality assurance, was successfully adapted for FFF beams of Varian TrueBeam Linac. The detector saturation effects could be eliminated if the portal images acquired at 150 cm for all nominal dose rates of FFF beams.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗