Generation of Low-Energy High-Current Electron Beams in Plasma-Anode Electron Guns

This paper is a review of studies on the generation of low-energy high-current electron beams in electron guns with a plasma anode and an explosive-emission cathode. The problems related to the initiation of explosive electron emission under plasma and the formation and transport of high-current electron beams in plasma-filled systems are discussed consecutively. Considerable attention is given to the nonstationary effects that occur in the space charge layers of plasma. Emphasis is also placed on the problem of providing a uniform energy density distribution over the beam cross section, which is of critical importance in using electron beams of this type for surface treatment of materials. Examples of facilities based on low-energy high-current electron beam sources are presented and their applications in materials science and practice are discussed.     

Dynamics of a relativistic electron beam in the vicinity of a spherical injecting body in space plasma

The dynamics of a relativistic electron beam in the vicinity of an injector in the form of a spherical conducting body in a space plasma is considered. An equation describing the radial evolution of a steady electron beam with a self-similar density profile in the electric field of the injector is formulated. A method for calculating the radial evolution of a relativistic electron beam in the vicinity of an injector is developed. The method is based on the numerical integration of a set of ordinary differential equations for the beam radius and field potential in the space charge region under the relevant boundary conditions at the injector surface. Results are presented from numerical simulations of the radial dynamics of an electron beam in the vicinity of a spherical screen system for neutralizing the electric charge carried away by the beam. The numerical results show that the electric field of the injector hastens the beam expansion.     

Using beam profile inflection point in process of treatment planning system verification

BackgroundThe comparison between profiles during the commissioning of the treatment planning system is an essential procedure. It is impossible to designate a field size for off-axis, wedged, and FFF beams directly by using the definition of the on-axis symmetric field size. This work proposes the use of different characteristic points as indicators of the field size for commissioning and QA purposes. This work aimed to search for the beam profile’s characteristic points and use them for the TPS commissioning purposes.Materials and methodsThe proposal is to use profile inflection points as the beam profile characteristic points. The usage of dedicated software allowed for comparing distances between inflection points and between points of 50% intensity. For the off-axis, wedged, and FFF fields, comparisons were made to the nominal field sizes.ResultsDistances between inflection points proved to be different by less than 1 mm from nominal field sizes for all kinds of investigated beams.ConclusionsInflection points are convenient for comparing the off-axis, wedged, and FFF field sizes because of their independence from profile normalization. With finite accuracy, the inflection points could be used for the above kind of beam sizes designation.     

Investigation of the chaotic dynamics of an electron beam with a virtual cathode in an external magnetic field

The effect of the strength of the focusing magnetic field on chaotic dynamic processes occurring in an electron beam with a virtual cathode, as well as on the processes whereby the structures form in the beam and interact with each other, is studied by means of two-dimensional numerical simulations based on solving a self-consistent set of Vlasov-Maxwell equations. It is shown that, as the focusing magnetic field is decreased, the dynamics of an electron beam with a virtual cathode becomes more complicated due to the formation and interaction of spatiotemporal longitudinal and transverse structures in the interaction region of a vircator. The optimum efficiency of the interaction of an electron beam with the electromagnetic field of the vircator is achieved at a comparatively weak external magnetic field and is determined by the fundamentally two-dimensional nature of the motion of the beam electrons near the virtual cathode.     

A laser Doppler scanner for imaging blood flow in skin

This paper describes a novel medical instrument that produces an image of blood flow in the capillaries under the skin surface. A laser beam is used to detect blood cell motion from the Doppler broadening of the laser light scattered from the skin. The image is generated by scanning the laser beam in a raster. The design of a practical clinical instrument is outlined and some preliminary results are presented.     

微生物醌指纹法在环境微生物群体组成研究中的应用

微生物醌是能量代谢过程的电子传递体,不同的微生物含有不同种类和分子结构的醌。因此,环境样品中微生物醌的组成,即醌指纹可在一定程度上反映微生物的群体结构。本简要介绍了微生物醌的分析方法,并利用醌指纹对活性污泥中的微生物群体组成进行了解析。     

Theoretical and experimental study of the space-charge oscillations in the electron-optical system of a relativistic gyrotron

A theoretical and experimental study of the oscillations of a space-charge cloud in a magnetron-injection gun of a powerful relativistic gyrotron has been performed. The charge storage occurs via electron-beam magnetic compression of the reflection of a part of the electrons having the highest transverse velocities from a magnetic mirror. It has been established that at high values of the compression coefficient the beam loses its stability that finally leads to the appearance of the beam current modulation at the frequency of the longitudinal oscillations of an electron beam in an adiabatic trap. According to the numerical simulations, the energy spread in the formed beam under these conditions reaches 4.6%, which is higher by an order of magnitude than that due to the space-charge effect in the beam transported along the metal tube.     

基于小波变换的医学图像编码方法

高分辨率的医学图像具有很大的信息量,影响了整个数字化的远程医疗系统的实时性,因此必须在保证不丢失关键诊断信息的前提下,对医学图像进行必要的压缩。本文提出了在给定小波基下,基于二维小波分解和重构的快速压缩方法。该方法使用了向量量化技术并采用LBG算法设计码本。实验结果证明,采用该方法可获得较高的压缩比和符合诊断要求的压缩图像。     

一种新型心电监护治疗系统的研究与实现

介绍了一种新型的心电监护治疗系统,可有效的用于心血管疾病的预防、诊断、监护和治疗。采用小波变换的方法检测和处理心电信号。本文在介绍系统的硬件组成、软件设计的基础上,提出一种基于32位WINDOWS环境、采用多线程技术实现串行通信的新方法,有效地解决了传统多机监护系统串行通信中的迟滞性和不可靠性。     

The maximum electron energy achievable in conventional resonant linear accelerators

It is shown that, in resonant high-energy electron linear accelerators, undulator radiation should be observed, which is emitted by off-axis beam particles interacting with the transverse field of nonsynchronous spatial harmonics of the fundamental axisymmetric mode of a periodic accelerating structure. The mean power emitted by an individual electron is proportional to the squared distance between the electron and the accelerator axis and to the squared electron energy. This circumstance may limit the maximum energy to which offaxis beam electrons can be accelerated.     

Design of a new tracking device for on-line beam range monitor in carbon therapy

Charged particle therapy is a technique for cancer treatment that exploits hadron beams, mostly protons and carbon ions. A critical issue is the monitoring of the beam range so to check the correct dose deposition to the tumor and surrounding tissues. The design of a new tracking device for beam range real-time monitoring in pencil beam carbon ion therapy is presented. The proposed device tracks secondary charged particles produced by beam interactions in the patient tissue and exploits the correlation of the charged particle emission profile with the spatial dose deposition and the Bragg peak position. The detector, currently under construction, uses the information provided by 12 layers of scintillating fibers followed by a plastic scintillator and a pixelated Lutetium Fine Silicate (LFS) crystal calorimeter. An algorithm to account and correct for emission profile distortion due to charged secondaries absorption inside the patient tissue is also proposed. Finally detector reconstruction efficiency for charged particle emission profile is evaluated using a Monte Carlo simulation considering a quasi-realistic case of a non-homogenous phantom.     

Nonlinear quantum theory of stimulated Cherenkov radiation of transverse electromagnetic waves from a low-density relativistic electron beam in a dielectric medium

A nonlinear quantum theory of stimulated Cherenkov radiation of transverse electromagnetic waves from a low-density relativistic electron beam in an isotropic dielectric medium is presented. A quantum model based on the Klein-Gordon equation is used. The growth rates of beam instabilities caused by the effect of stimulated Cherenkov radiation have been determined in the linear approximation. Mechanisms of the nonlinear saturation of relativistic quantum Cherenkov beam instabilities have been analyzed and the corresponding analytical solutions have been obtained.     

Beamline characterization of a dielectric-filled reentrant cavity resonator as beam current monitor for a medical cyclotron facility

At PSI (Paul Scherrer Institute), Switzerland, a superconducting cyclotron called “COMET” delivers proton beam of 250 MeV pulsed at 72.85 MHz for proton radiation therapy. Measuring proton beam currents (0.1–10nA) is of crucial importance for the treatment safety and is usually performed with invasive monitors such as ionisation chambers (ICs) which degrade the beam quality. A new non-invasive beam current monitor working on the principle of electromagnetic resonance is built to replace ICs in order to preserve the beam quality delivered. The fundamental resonance frequency of the resonator is tuned to 145.7 MHz, which is the second harmonic of the pulse rate, so it provides signals proportional to beam current. The cavity resonator installed in the beamline of the COMET is designed to measure beam currents for the energy range 238–70 MeV. Good agreement is reached between expected and measured resonator response over the energy range of interest. The resonator can deliver beam current information down to 0.15 nA for a measurement integration time of 1 s. The cavity resonator might be applied serving as a safety monitor to trigger interlocks within the existing domain of proton radiation therapy. Low beam currents limit the abilities to detect sufficiently, however, with the potential implementation of FLASH proton therapy, the application of cavity resonator as an online beam-monitoring device is feasible.     

Evaluation of a commercial VMC++ Monte Carlo based treatment planning system for electron beams using EGSnrc/BEAMnrc simulations and measurements

In the present work, Monte Carlo (MC) models of electron beams (energies 4, 12 and 18 MeV) from an Elekta SL25 medical linear accelerator were simulated using EGSnrc/BEAMnrc user code. The calculated dose distributions were benchmarked by comparison with measurements made in a water phantom for a wide range of open field sizes and insert combinations, at a single source-to-surface distance (SSD) of 100 cm. These BEAMnrc models were used to evaluate the accuracy of a commercial MC dose calculation engine for electron beam treatment planning (Oncentra MasterPlan Treament Planning System (OMTPS) version 1.4, Nucletron) for two energies, 4 and 12 MeV. Output factors were furthermore measured in the water phantom and compared to BEAMnrc and OMTPS. The overall agreement between predicted and measured output factors was comparable for both BEAMnrc and OMTPS, except for a few asymmetric and/or small insert cutouts, where larger deviations between measurements and the values predicted from BEAMnrc as well as OMTPS computations were recorded. However, in the heterogeneous phantom, differences between BEAMnrc and measurements ranged from 0.5 to 2.0% between two ribs and 0.6–1.0% below the ribs, whereas the range difference between OMTPS and measurements was the same (0.5–4.0%) in both areas. With respect to output factors, the overall agreement between BEAMnrc and measurements was usually within 1.0% whereas differences up to nearly 3.0% were observed for OMTPS. This paper focuses on a comparison for clinical cases, including the effects of electron beam attenuations in a heterogeneous phantom. It, therefore, complements previously reported data (only based on measurements) in one other paper on commissioning of the VMC++ dose calculation engine.These results demonstrate that the VMC++ algorithm is more robust in predicting dose distribution than Pencil beam based algorithms for the electron beams investigated.     

Use of steroid profiles in determining the cause of adrenal insufficiency

HYPOTHESIS: A cortisol response to adrenocorticotropin injection is the standard test for diagnosing adrenal insufficiency. Multiple steroid hormones can now be accurately measured by tandem mass spectrometry in a single sample. The study objective was to determine whether a steroid profile, created by simultaneous measurement of 10 steroid hormones by tandem mass spectrometry, would help determine the cause of adrenal insufficiency. DESIGN: A 10-steroid profile was measured by tandem mass spectrometry during the performance of a standard high dose cortrosyn stimulation test. The steroids were measured at baseline, 30, and 60min following synthetic adrenocorticotropin injection. Adrenal insufficiency was defined as a peak cortisol level of less than 20microg/dL. Testing was conducted in the general clinical research center of a university medical center. Normal volunteers, patients suspected of having adrenal insufficiency, and patients with known adrenal insufficiency participated. RESULTS: Our results showed that adrenal insufficiency of any cause was adequately diagnosed using the response of 11-deoxycortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, or these analytes combined in a two-steroid profile. A three-steroid profile yielded a test with 100% accuracy for discriminating primary adrenal insufficiency from normal status. Primary adrenal insufficiency was well separated from secondary adrenal insufficiency using only a single aldosterone value. 11-Deoxycortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, and a two-steroid profile each provided fair discrimination between secondary adrenal insufficiency and normal status. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that stimulated levels of aldosterone, 11-deoxycortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, and a two- or three-steroid profile provided additional discrimination between states of adrenal sufficiency and insufficiency. It is proposed that a steroid profile measuring cortisol, aldosterone, 11-deoxycortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone would potentially improve the ability to determine the cause of adrenal insufficiency.     

A new bi-axial cantilever beam design for biomechanics force measurements

The demand for measuring forces exerted by animals during locomotion has increased dramatically as biomechanists strive to understand and implement biomechanical control strategies. In particular, multi-axial force transducers are often required to capture animal limb coordination patterns. Most existing force transducers employ strain gages arranged in a Wheatstone bridge on a cantilever beam. Bi-axial measurements require duplicating this arrangement in the transverse direction. In this paper, we reveal a method to embed a Wheatstone bridge inside another to allow bi-axial measurements without additional strain gages or additional second beams. This hybrid configuration resolves two force components from a single bridge circuit and simplifies fabrication for the simultaneous assessment of normal and transverse loads. This design can be implemented with two-dimensional fabrication techniques and can even be used to modify a common full bridge cantilever force transducer. As a demonstration of the new design, we built a simple beam which achieved bi-axial sensing capability that outperformed a conventional half-bridge-per-axis bi-axial strain gage design. We have used this design to measure the ground reaction forces of a crawling caterpillar and a caterpillar-mimicking soft robot. The simplicity and increased sensitivity of this method could facilitate bi-axial force measurements for experimental biologists.     

Measurement of depth-dose of linear accelerator and simulation by use of Geant4 computer code

Radiation therapy is an established method of cancer treatment. New technologies in cancer radiotherapy need a more accurate computation of the dose delivered in the radiotherapy treatment plan. This study presents some results of a Geant4-based application for simulation of the absorbed dose distribution given by a medical linear accelerator (LINAC). The LINAC geometry is accurately described in the Monte Carlo code with use of the accelerator manufacturer''s specifications. The capability of the software for evaluating the dose distribution has been verified by comparisons with measurements in a water phantom; the comparisons were performed for percentage depth dose (PDD) and profiles for various field sizes and depths, for a 6-MV electron beam. Experimental and calculated dose values were in good agreement both in PDD and in transverse sections of the water phantom.     

Dosimetry in magnetic fields with dedicated MR-compatible ionization chambers

MR-integrated radiotherapy requires suitable dosimetry detectors to be used in magnetic fields. This study investigates the feasibility of using dedicated MR-compatible ionization chambers at MR-integrated radiotherapy devices. MR-compatible ionization chambers (Exradin A19MR, A1SLMR, A26MR, A28MR) were precisely modeled and their relative response in a 6MV treatment beam in the presence of a magnetic field was simulated using EGSnrc. Monte Carlo simulations were carried out with the magnetic field in three orientations: the magnetic field aligned perpendicular to the chamber and beam axis (transverse orientation), the magnetic field parallel to the chamber as well as parallel to the beam axis. Monte Carlo simulation results were validated with measurements using an electromagnet with magnetic field strength upto 1.1 T with the chambers in transverse orientation. The measurements and simulation results were in good agreement, except for the A26MR ionization chamber in transverse orientation. The maximum increase in response of the ionization chambers observed was 8.6% for the transverse orientation. No appreciable change in chamber response due to the magnetic field was observed for the magnetic field parallel to the ionization chamber and parallel to the photon beam.Polarity and recombination correction factor were experimentally investigated in the transverse orientation. The polarity effect and recombination effect were not altered by a magnetic field.This study further investigates the response of the ionization chambers as a function of the chambers’ rotation around their longitudinal axis. A variation in response was observed when the chamber was not rotationally symmetric, which was independent of the magnetic field.     

Simulation of electron beam formation and transport in a gas-filled electron-optical system with a plasma emitter

The results of computer simulations of the electron-optical system of an electron gun with a plasma emitter are presented. The simulations are performed using the KOBRA3-INP, XOOPIC, and ANSYS codes. The results describe the electron beam formation and transport. The electron trajectories are analyzed. The mechanisms of gas influence on the energy inhomogeneity of the beam and its current in the regions of beam primary formation, acceleration, and transport are described. Recommendations for optimizing the electron-optical system with a plasma emitter are presented.