Date: Wednesday 22nd of January 2020, 15:00.
Location: INB3305 (Isaac Newton Building, #14).

‘The Physics and Technology of Proton CT’

by Prof Nigel Allinson MBE and Mr Chris Waltham, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK.

Abstract:

Proton Beam Therapy is rapidly growing as a radiotherapy modality with 100 centres in operation and similar number under construction or planned. A significant issue that limits the optimum use of this therapy in the treatment of cancers are the uncertainties associated with using x-ray tomography to plan treatments using much higher energy protons. The need is the employ the same radiation type to image and to treat. Imaging using charged particles is non-trivial. Proton imaging requires that we consider each individual proton and not like photon imaging where we are only concerned with global properties.

The presentation will introduce the principles of proton imaging systems, the associated detector technology, the necessary operating envelope (in particular the behaviour of cyclotrons at very low currents), and reconstruction of proton CT.