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M Rozenfeld

Publications and source records attributed to M Rozenfeld.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Can the AAPM Task Group 21 protocol lead to optimum ion chamber designs?

The recently published AAPM Task Group 21 protocol for high-energy dosimetry is complicated in that it requires the physicist to obtain the values of about a dozen different physical variables by looking them up in tables or graphs. This should be compared with the procedure of earlier protocols using the concept of a single multiplier C lambda. We have investigated how the physical principles outlined in the improved AAPM protocol could be utilized for the redesign of the therapy-level ion chambers in such a way that one can reduce the number of factors that need to be looked up in tables or graphs for the calibration of high-energy teletherapy photon beams. In our analysis presented in this paper we found that one such design could be for an ion chamber having a wall acrylic or Bakelite of a thickness not exceeding 0.1 g/cm2 and having an inner diameter of 6 mm, and used in conjunction with a cobalt-60 buildup cap of thickness 0.35 g/cm2 made of acrylic, Bakelite, or Tufnol. If a chamber of such a design is used in a water phantom, the dosimetry practically reduces to the simplicity of the former protocols of depending on a single value of energy-dependent multiplier to be obtained from a table. With the above design parameters, it becomes possible to eliminate the explicit need to incorporate the factors Pwall, Prepl, Awall, beta wall, and the variable alpha, representing the fraction of ionization due to electrons from the wall material of the chamber.

Animals↗

Collimated electron beams and their associated penumbra widths.

The Fermi-Eyges multiple-scattering theory for electrons is applied to calculate profiles of collimated electron beams. The dose profile below the collimator is a convolution of the intensity distribution of the electrons at the level of the collimator and the distribution arising from the propagation of a Gaussian point source from the collimator to the level of the calculation. The electrons at the level of the collimator possess an angular distribution characteristic of the configuration of the electron beam at the vacuum window. Hence, the dose profile and its associated penumbra width can be expressed in terms of the angular moments of the distribution of the electrons at the collimator. The dependence of the penumbra width on the configuration-dependent angular spread of the electrons at the collimator accounts for differences in the size of the penumbra between two broad-beam configurations. These differences are also seen experimentally. We have also studied the dependence of the angular moments of the electrons upon scattering foils present above the collimator and the position of the beam-broadening device in the accelerator head.

Electrons↗

Electron dose calculation using multiple-scattering theory: thin planar inhomogeneities.

In this article in our series on electron dose calculation using multiple-scattering theory, we apply the Fermi-Eyges theory to the problem of a thin planar inhomogeneity present in an otherwise-layered medium. We derive expressions for the distribution function P and the location distribution L (which multiplied by the restricted mass collision stopping power is the dose directly deposited by the primary electrons) for various types of incident beams: a completely arbitrary distribution, a Gaussian point source, a pencil beam, an isotropic point source, and a broad parallel beam. We show how divergent-beam dose distributions can be determined from parallel-beam calculations, through use of equivalent configurations dependent upon the depth of dose calculation. Also, we indicate how this work can be applied to the design of wedges (or "compensators") for beam shaping to provide desired dose distributions or to match juxtaposed radiation fields. Explicit formulas for thin plates are then worked out, and we examine the appearance of hot and cold spots distal to the edge of a localized inhomogeneity, for thin half-slabs and for narrow strips. Finally, considering the case of a thin straight wedge-shaped inhomogeneity, we theoretically discover the phenomenon of a "focused hot spot" without an accompanying cold spot, and suggest the design of a "multiple-scattering lens".

Electrons↗