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Lab 5

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3 views

Lab 5

Uploaded by

sq9y852t4y
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Experiment 8

Collimation of gamma radiation


Introduction
A radioactive source generally emits radiation in all directions. In many applications,
however, a collimated radiation beam is requested. For example in radiation therapy a
gamma beam can be used to kill cancer cells of a tumor. To minimize the damage to healthy
tissue the gamma beam is collimated to match the size and location of the tumor. To avoid
damage also to the tissue layers in front of and behind the tumor and to maximize the dose
to the cancer cells the tumor is usually irradiated from many directions. The collimation of
gamma beams used in radiation therapy is illustrated in figure 8.1.

Figure 8.1. Radiation treatment of a brain tumor with collimated Co-60 gamma rays.

Theory
Gamma rays emitted by a point source are distributed spherically around the source so that
the radiation intensity I0 is given by
A0
I0 2 (8.1)
4 r where A0 is the source activity and r the distance from the source. At a constant
distance the radiation intensity is thus a constant function of the observation angle as shown
in figure 8.2a. A collimator restricts the emitted radiation to a well defined angle as shown in
figure 8.2b. In practice edge leakage and scattering smoothens the intensity drop at the
sides of the beam as shown in figure 8.2c.

γ intensity γ intensity γ intensity

-90° Angle +90° - + Angle - + Angle

Scattering

Leakage

Figure 8.2. a) Distribution of gamma rays emitted by a point source, b) intensity of a


collimated ideal gamma beam and c) intensity smoothening of a real collimated gamma
beam due to collimator edge leakage and scattering.

For a collimated point source the beam angle (see figure 8.3) can be calculated from the
dimensions of the collimator (height h and diameter d) as

d
(8.2)
tan
2h
The diameter D of the beam at a distance R from the source is given by

Rd
(8.3)
D 2Rtan h
h

d
D

Figure 8.3. Geometry of


R a gamma ray collimator.
Experiment
In radiation therapy the preferred gamma source is Co-60. A Co-60 source emits gamma
rays at energies 1.17 MeV and 1.33 MeV. These gamma rays are highly penetrating and
need a thick lead collimator to prevent collimator edge leakage. Instead of Co-60 in this
experiment an Am-241 source will be used. Since the main gamma energy of Am-241 is low
(60 keV) a small steel collimator can be used to effectively collimate the gamma rays to a
cone beam. In the experiment the distribution of gamma rays of an Am-241 source will be
measured with and without a collimator. The radiation intensity will be measured with a GM
tube. The collimator to be used is a cylindrical piece of steel. The measured radiation
intensity will be plotted against the angle of emission. The collimated beam angle will be
determined from the intensity plot and compared to the calculated estimate.

1. Fix the Am-241 source to the clamp. Use the tweezers. Do not
touch the source with your fingers.

5. If necessary support the GM tube from the handle to keep it


in the right position. Now reset the counter and press start.
Measure the number of counts C for 60 s. Record the result
in the table of results.
6. Align the GM tube along the 10° grid line. Make su re that
the distance between the source and the GM tube remains
the same. Measure the counts C again for 60 s.
7. Repeat the measurement for all angles -90°… +90° in steps
of 10°.
2

6 4 3

2. Align the source according to the black lines on the grid paper.
3. Place the GM tube in front of the source along the 0 degree line so
that the end of the metal case of the GM tube is at the dashed grid
line.
4. Adjust the height of the source so that the source is aligned with
the GM tube.

8. Keep the Am-241 source in the clamp but move it some distance away so that you can
place the collimator in the screw hole. Move the Am-241 source back to its place
behind the collimator. Adjust the height of the collimator to match the source height
and align the source with the collimator.
8 8 8

9. Repeat the count measurements with the collimator in place


following steps 6 and 7. Write all results in the Table of
results.
10. Determine the background count number as the average of
five measurements.
11. Estimate the error s of the measured count numbers C as
the square root of the number of counts. Write the errors in
the Table of results.
12. Calculate the background corrected number of counts. 9
13. Calculate the errors of the background corrected count
2 2
numbers according to the error formula ( C C tot Cb )

14. Plot the background corrected count numbers C as a function of the angle for both
the collimated and non collimated beam. Include the error bars as ±ΔC (see figure
8.4).
15. From your graphs determine the beam angle for both the collimated and non
collimated beam following the example shown in figure 8.4.
16. Measure the dimensions d and h of the collimator with a ruler.
17. Calculate the beam angle of the collimated beam from equation 8.2. Compare the
result to your measurement.
18. Sketch a drawing of the beams as shown in figure 8.5.
19. How big is the diameter D of the collimated beam at a distance 10 cm from the
source?
FWHM

FWHM

Figure 8.4. Determination of beam angles.

Collimated beam
1

Non collimated beam

Figure 8.5. Shapes of gamma beams.

Without collimator With collimator


Angle Ctot ΔCtot C ΔC Ctot ΔCtot C ΔC
-90°
-80°
-70°
-60°
-50°
-40°
-30°
-20°
-10°
0°
10°
20°
30°
40°
50°
60°
70°
80°
90°

Cb Collimator Ctot Ctot


1 d=
C Ctot -Cb
2 h=
3 C C2tot Cb2 Cb
4 Cb
5
Ave
ΔCb

Figure 8.6. The table of results.

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