Ponente
Descripción
The ability to measure the effects of radiation on healthy and tumorous tissues at the microscale can highly contribute to describing the dose distribution and establish correlations with the effects observed at the cellular level. Developing instruments with this characteristic is essential for planning particle radiotherapy for cancer treatment. The RADART (Radiation Dosimetry to Advance Radio Therapy) group at LIP is developing new detectors and materials with applications in micro- and nanodosimetry. A prototype, based on an array of 64 1 mm-diameter scintillating plastic optical fibres (SPOF), was introduced in the workshop in Santiago de Compostela. In 2023, the first beam tests with clinical protons at HollandPTC, Delft, on the prototype under development by our group were made. More recently, the development of materials that can achieve micro-scale sensitivity to use in radiobiology experiments has started within our group. Micrometric SPOF (mSPOF) and aluminium oxide (Al2O3) doped crystals are the options for building active and passive microdosimetric detectors. Multiple methods to produce mSPOF, namely electrospinning, melt-electrospinning, and fibre drawing, were investigated. Polystyrene-based mSPOF was produced via fibre drawing successfully. The mSPOF had a diameter between 50-70 micrometres and had proven good optical properties (e.g. light transmission). The production of Al2O3 crystals, the base matrix of a fluorescent nuclear tracking detector (FNTD), was achieved using the flux method for crystal growth. Flux and process optimizations resulted in the production of good-quality clear crystals (i.e., no defects). Intending to improve the sensitivity for low-mass particles and neutrons, doping the crystals with several element combinations is foreseen.
