Fission converter and metal–oxide–semiconductor field effect transistor study of thermal neutron flux distribution in an epithermal neutron therapy beam

Authors

G. I. Kaplan, University of Wollongong
Anatoly B. Rosenfeld, University of WollongongFollow
B. J. Allen, University of Wollongong
J. A. Coderre, Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, USA
H. B. Liu, University of California, USA

Publication Details

This article was originally published as Kaplan, GI, Rosenfeld, AB, Allen, BJ et al, Fission converter and metal–oxide–semiconductor field effect transistor study of thermal neutron flux distribution in an epithermal neutron therapy beam, Medical Physics, 26(9), September 1999, 1989. Copyright American Association of Physicists in Medicine. Original journal available here.

Abstract

The depth distribution of the thermal neutron flux is a major factor in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) in determining the efficiency of cell sterilization. In this paper the fission detector method is developed and applied to measure the in-phantom thermal neutron flux depth distribution. Advantages of the fission detector include small size, direct measurement of thermal neutron flux in a mixed radiation field of BNCT beam, self-calibration, and the possibility of on-line measurement. The measurements were performed at epithermal a BNCT facility. The experimental results were compared with the thermal neutron flux calculated by the Monte Carlo method and found to be in good agreement.