A novel structure optical fiber radiation dosimeter for radiotherapy applications

An investigation into a novel in-vivo PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) fiber-optic dosimeter to monitor the dose of ionizing radiation, both for instantaneous and integrating measurements, for radiotherapy applications is proposed. This fiber sensor is designed as an intracorporal X-ray ionizing sensor to enhance the curative effect of radiotherapy. The fiber-optic dosimeter is made in a PMMA fiber, whose core is micromachined to create a small diameter (0.25 to 0.5 mm) hole at one fiber end. An inorganic scintillating material, terbium-doped gadolinium oxysulfide (Gd₂O₂S:Tb) is chosen as the sensing material, because it can fluoresce on immediately under exposure of ionizing radiation (X-Rays or electron beam). This sensing material is filled and packaged in the small hole by epoxy resin adhesive. This kind of novel structure dosimeter shows high light coupling efficiency compared with other kind of inorganic scintillation dosimeter. This fiber-optic dosimeter shows good repeatability with a maximum deviation of 0.16%. The testing results of the fiber-optic dosimeter are perfectly proportional to the data of IC with R² as 0.9999. In addition, the fiber sensor shows excellent isotropic in its radial angular dependence. All the experiments indicate that the fiber-optic dosimeter is properly used for patient in-vivo dosimeter such as brachytherapy applications or intraoperative radiation therapy.