Neutron production in radiotherapy facilities has been studied from the early days of modern linacs. Detailed studies are now possible using photoneutron capabilities of general-purpose Monte Carlo codes at energies of interest in medical physics. The present work studies the effects of modelling different accelerator head and room geometries on the neutron fluence and spectra predicted via Monte Carlo. The results from the simulation of a 15 MV Siemens PRIMUS linac show an 80% increase in the fluence scored at the isocentre when, besides modelling the components necessary for electron/photon simulations, other massive accelerator head components are included. Neutron fluence dependence on inner treatment room volume is analysed showing that thermal neutrons have a 'gaseous' behaviour and then a 1/V dependence. Neutron fluence maps for three energy ranges, fast (E > 0.1 MeV), epithermal (1 eV < E < 0.1 MeV) and thermal (E < 1 eV), are also presented and the influence of the head components on them is discussed.

We have analyzed data on the free ion yield observed in liquid isooctane irradiated by 60 Co γ rays within the framework of the Onsager theory about initial recombination. Several distribution functions describing the electron thermalization distance have been used and compared with the experimental results: a delta function, a Gaussian type function and an exponential function.A linear dependence between free ion yield and external electric field has been found at low electric field values (E < 1.2 M V /m) in excellent agreement with the Onsager theory. At higher electric field values we obtain a solution in power series of the external field using the Onsager theory.

A liquid isooctane (C(8)H(18)) filled ionization linear array for radiotherapy quality assurance has been designed, built and tested. The detector consists of 128 pixels, each of them with an area of 1.7 mm x 1.7 mm and a gap of 0.5 mm. The small pixel size makes the detector ideal for high gradient beam profiles such as those present in intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and radiosurgery. As the read-out electronics we use the X-ray Data Acquisition System with the Xchip developed by the CCLRC. Studies concerning the collection efficiency dependence on the polarization voltage and on the dose rate have been made in order to optimize the device operation. In the first tests, we have studied dose rate and energy dependences. Dose rate dependence was found to be lower than 2.1% up to 5 Gy min(-1), and energy dependence lower than 2.5% up to 20 cm depth in solid water. Output factors and penumbras for several rectangular fields have been measured with the linear array and were compared with the results obtained with a 0.125 cm(3) air ionization chamber and radiographic film, respectively. Finally, we have acquired profiles for an IMRT field and for a virtual wedge. These profiles have also been compared with radiographic film measurements. All the comparisons show a good correspondence. The device has proved its capability to verify on-line therapy beams with good spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio.

A method for commissioning an EGSnrc Monte Carlo simulation of medical linac photon beams through wide-field lateral profiles at moderate depth in a water phantom is presented. Although depth-dose profiles are commonly used for nominal energy determination, our study shows that they are quite insensitive to energy changes below 0.3 MeV (0.6 MeV) for a 6 MV (15 MV) photon beam. Also, the depth-dose profile dependence on beam radius adds an additional uncertainty in their use for tuning nominal energy. Simulated 40 cm x 40 cm lateral profiles at 5 cm depth in a water phantom show greater sensitivity to both nominal energy and radius. Beam parameters could be determined by comparing only these curves with measured data.

This work focuses on neutron monitoring at clinical linac facilities during high-energy modality radiotherapy treatments. Active in-room measurement of neutron fluence is a complex problem due to the pulsed nature of the fluence and the presence of high photon background, and only passive methods have been considered reliable until now. In this paper we present a new active method to perform real-time measurement of neutron production around a medical linac. The device readout is being investigated as an estimate of patient neutron dose exposure on each radiotherapy session. The new instrument was developed based on neutron interaction effects in microelectronic memory devices, in particular using neutron-sensitive SRAM devices. This paper is devoted to the description of the instrument and measurement techniques, presenting the results obtained together with their comparison and discussion. Measurements were performed in several standard clinical linac facilities, showing high reliability, being insensitive to the photon fluence and EM pulse present inside the radiotherapy room, and having detector readout statistical relative uncertainties of about 2% on measurement of neutron fluence produced by 1000 monitor units irradiation runs.