Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) offers a highly localised depth-dose distribution. To ensure optimal patient safety with PBT, several beam properties are measured as part of Quality Assurance (QA), with the proton range in water being key a parameter.
The QuARC is a compact detector for proton range measurements under development at UCL. The detector utilises a series of optically isolated scintillator sheets where each is coupled individually to a photodiode in order to sample the proton depth-light distribution. Fitting to an analytical depth- light model, the original depth-dose curve is reconstructed, and the proton range is measured in real- time to sub-mm precision.
Presented are range QA measurements made with the QuARC at beam intensities up to 50 nA. These show excellent agreement with clinical current depth-light measurements, all while providing real- time water-equivalent ranges accurate to 0.5 mm from 70–245 MeV.