Large-Area Plasma Panel Detectors for Particle Beam Radiation Therapy

Abstract A joint DOE-NCI workshop on ion beam therapy (January 2013, Bethesda, MD) has identified an ambitious set of technological developments needed to support a world-class treatment program for ion beam therapy. One important requirement is the ability to provide detectors that afford single-particle registration at high data rates with high degree of uniformity and minimal interference with the particle beam. This would allow performing proton or ion CT prior to treatment and 2D proton, ion radiography during treatment for integrated range verification, and beam diagnostics that have minimal interference with the primary beam. The final workshop report stated A better method of determining the stopping power, be it through proton CT or other means, would greatly increase the accuracy of the treatment, particularly when 1 mm range precision is desired. This is an important area for further RandD. We propose to develop a novel detector type, the plasma panel sensor (PPS), for proton and ion particle detec