Characterizing proton beam properties for cell irradiation study using GEANT4 simulation

The purpose of this research is to characterize proton beam properties - beam energy, energy spread, beam size, and transverse emittance - to establish the initial setup for simulation in planning cancer cell culture experiments at the Cyclotron Medical Accelerator at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. The characterization was performed using GEANT4 Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Proton energies of 70 MeV, 100 MeV, 150 MeV, and 220 MeV were selected, and the 80%-20% distal fall-off of the depth profile was utilized to determine the energy spread. The simulated results were then verified against experimental data and compared with the Treatment Planning System (TPS). The details of the validating procedure, as well as results on the optimized energy spread, beam size, and emittance, and the irradiated setup for cell irradiation, will be discussed in this contribution.