Speaker
Description
Cancer is one of the most important diseases these days. It is the second most common reason of death in Hungary, as it causes 26% of all deaths. Therefore it is an important question how to treat cancer. One of the most popular treatments is radiotherapy, which uses particles to ionize atoms and these atoms destroy the DNA of cancer cells. Radiotherapy uses two types of particles, X-ray and hadrons (protons or heavier ions). Nowadays X-ray is more popular, because it needs cheaper equipment and has a mature technology. However, the stopping-power distribution of hadrons is favorable, thanks to the Bragg-peak, which is where the ions lose most of their energy, therefore cause the most damage. In a treatment the Bragg-peak can be focused into the tumor, consequently the energy deposition can be reduced in the healthy tissue, which reduce the side effects. To use proton treatment effectively it is necessary to develop a proton CT to have an accurate 3D picture of the stopping-power before the tumor. The Bergen pCT collaboration decided to develop such a proton CT, which is a sampling calorimeter made up of alternating silicon sensitive layers and aluminum energy degraders. In this talk, I will show results of a test at the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT) in Germany at low energy (50-220 MeV/u) of a prototype of this calorimeter, which is constructed of three ALPIDE sensors. ALPIDE is a digital and MAPS type silicon tracking sensor. It was developed in the CERN LHC ALICE collaboration to replace their current innermost tracking detector. The Bergen pCT collaboration is planning to use this sensor as the sensitive layer in the proposed calorimeter. I will present the current status of the research and development of the proton CT by the Bergen pCT collaboration.
