BARC/PUB/2016/0473

 
 

Monte carlo-based spencer-attix and bragg-gray tissue-to-air stopping power ratios for ISO beta sources

 
     
 
Author(s)

Selvam, T. P.; Vandana, S.; Bakshi, A. K.; Babu, D. A. R.
(RP&AD)

Source

Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 2016. Vol. 168 (2): pp. 184-189

ABSTRACT

Spencer– Attix (SA) and Bragg – Gray (BG) mass-collision-stopping-power ratios of tissue-to-air are calculated using a modified version of EGSnrc-based SPRRZnrc user-code for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) beta sources such as 147Pm, 85Kr, 90Sr/90Y and 106Ru/106Rh. The ratios are calculated at 5 and 70µm depths along the central axis of the unit density ICRU-4-element tissue phantom as a function of air-cavity lengths of the extrapolation chamber l=0.025 – 0.25 cm. The study shows that the BG values are independent of l and agree well with the ISO-reported values for the above sources. The overall variation in the SA values is ∼0.3 % for all the investigated sources, when l is varied from 0.025 to 0.25 cm. As energy of the beta increases the SA stopping-power ratio for a given cavity length decreases. For example, SA values of 147Pm are higher by ∼2 % when compared with the corresponding values of 106Ru/106Rh source. SA stopping-power ratios are higher than the BG stopping-power ratios and the degree of variation depends on type of source and the value of l. For example, the difference is up to 0.7 % at l=0.025 cm for the 90Sr/90Y source.

 
 
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