Novel Bragg peak characterization method using proton flux measurements on plastic scintillators

<i>Objective</i>. Bragg peak measurements play a key role in the beam quality assurance in proton therapy. Used as base data for the treatment planning softwares, the accuracy of the data is crucial when defining the range of the protons in the patient.<i>Approach</i>. In this paper a protocol to reconstruct a Pristine Bragg Peak exploring the direct correlation between the particle flux and the dose deposited by particles is presented. Proton flux measurements at the HollandPTC and FLUKA Monte Carlo simulations are used for this purpose. This new protocol is applicable to plastic scintillator detectors developed for Quality Assurance applications. In order to obtain the Bragg curve using a plastic fiber detector, a PMMA phantom with a decoupled and moveable stepper was designed. The step phantom allows to change the depth of material in front of the fiber detector during irradiations. The Pristine Bragg Peak reconstruction protocol uses the measured flux of particles at each position and multiplies it by the average dose obtained from the Monte Carlo simulation at each position.<i>Main results</i>. The results show that with this protocol it is possible to reconstruct the Bragg Peak with an accuracy of about 470<i>µ</i>m, which is in accordance with the tolerances set by the AAPM.<i>Significance</i>. It has the advantage to be able to overcome the quenching problem of scintillators in the high ionization density region of the Bragg peak.