Real-time monitoring of ultra-high dose rate electron beams using bremsstrahlung photons

Recently, as the clinically positive biological effects of ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) radiation beams have been revealed, interest in flash radiation therapy has increased. Generally, FLASH preclinical experiments are performed using UHDR electron beams generated by linear accelerators. Real-time monitoring of UHDR beams is required to deliver the correct dose to a sample. However, it is difficult to use typical transmission-type ionization chambers for primary beam monitoring because there is no suitable electrometer capable of reading high pulsed currents, and collection efficiency is drastically reduced in pulsed radiation beams with ultra-high doses. In this study, a monitoring method using bremsstrahlung photons generated by irradiation devices and a water phantom was proposed. Charges collected in an ionization chamber located at the back of a water phantom were analyzed using the bremsstrahlung tail on electron depth dose curves obtained using radiochromic films. The dose conversion factor for converting a monitored charge into a delivered dose was determined analytically for the Advanced Markus® chamber and compared with experimentally determined values. It is anticipated that the method proposed in this study can be useful for monitoring sample doses in UHDR electron beam irradiation.