Characterization of YVO4:Eu3+ scintillator as detector for Fiber Optic Dosimetry

Fiberoptic dosimetry (FOD) is an experimental technique suitable for in-vivo, real time dosimetry in radiotherapy treatments. In a previous work it was found that YVO4:Eu is a scintillator suitable to be employed as scintillator for FOD in pulsed MV photon beams. YVO4:Eu-based FOD probes have shown several positive characteristics: temperature independence; no previous irradiation needed; "good spatial resolution. In this paper others dosimetric characteristics have been investigated for the first time. Suitability for real time dosimetry has been determined by simultaneous measurement with a ionization chamber; off axis profile have been obtained in order to assess spatial resolution of the FOD system when used in fields having a size of 3 x 3cm(2) and 1 x 1cm(2); angular dependence has been studied for probes with cylindrical and quaSi-spherical geometry showing the influence of the detector shape on it isotropy. Additionally, PDD curves resulting from Monte Carlo simulations have been successfully compared to experimental curves. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.