Date/Time
Date(s) - 03/13/2012
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Research in fiber optic coupled (FOC) x-ray detectors has intensified over the past decade. Fiber-optic detection systems offer many benefits that other instrumentation does not possess such as minimal angular dependence, real-time measurement capabilities, and small size, very useful for phantoms. Currently at the University of Florida (UF), FOC detectors have been used to quantify organ dose measurements in anthropomorphic phantoms irradiated by diagnostic imaging x-ray beams.
The application of these systems to other areas of research is still mostly undiscovered. There has been little documented research surrounding FOC detectors used as a x-ray/light field calibration tool. The development of a device capable of quantifying the x-ray/light field alignment would suffice as a convenient alternative to traditional measurement techniques requiring film and especially appreciable for facilities that no longer have film processors. The system being investigated provides rapid and accurate evaluation of the difference between x-ray and light fields.
The fiber-optic coupled (FOC) dosimetry system at UF was adapted to evaluate the misalignment between the light and x-ray fields of mammography imaging systems. An FOC detector element providing a variable output as a function of exposed dosimeter length is used to measure the deviation of each side of the x-ray/light field.
After determining that the linear FOC detector was capable of detecting photons independently of sensitive element geometry, the system was also characterized to measure the absorbed dose along the entire sensitive region, improving current methods of quantifying organ doses in radiology.