A Polymer-Gel Eye-Phantom For 3d Fluorescent Imaging Of Millimetre Radiation Beams

We have filled a 24 mm diameter glass sphere with a transparent polymer-gel that is radio-fluorogenic, i.e., it becomes (permanently) fluorescent when irradiated, with an intensity proportional to the local dose deposited. The gel consists of >99.9% tertiary-butyl acrylate (TBA), pre-polymerized to similar to 15% conversion, and similar to 100 ppm maleimido-pyrene (MPy). Its dimensions and physical properties are close to those of the vitreous body of the human eye. We have irradiated the gel with a 3 mm diameter, 200 kVp X-ray beam with a dose rate of similar to 1 Gy/min. A three-dimensional (3D) (video) view of the beam within the gel has been constructed from tomographic images obtained by scanning the sample through a thin sheet of UV light. To minimize optical artefacts, the cell was immersed in a square tank containing a refractive-index-matching medium. The 20-80% penumbra of the beam was determined to be similar to 0.4 mm. This research was a preparatory investigation of the possibility of using this method to monitor the millimetre diameter proton pencil beams used in ocular radiotherapy.