Calibration of laser tomography as a new optical diagnostic tool applied to dosimetric polymer gels

Numerous medical applications, as radiotherapy for example, require accurate and reproducible three-dimensional dose measurements with high spatial resolution. A solution of great interest and which has been exploited for many years is the use of dosimetric gels based on different physico-chemical principles, as Fricke’s gels or polymer gels. Fricke’s gels take advantage of the oxidation of ferrous ions in ferric while polymer gels are the result of the synthesis of polyacrylamide hydrogel from monomer and cross-linking agent. Fricke’s gels have particular limitations not encountered with polymer gel dosimeters: the time delay between irradiation and measurement must be reduced in order to limit the diffusion of ferric ions which may remove the spatial dose information. That’s why, during the past decade, many compositions of polymer gels have been studied (PAG, MAGIC, …), elaborated and even commercialized (BANG gels). However the gel composition remains of great interest regarding its physical properties. In this work, the authors propose a new optical diagnostic tool more flexible and less expensive in comparison with existing techniques like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Optical-CT. This technique is based on light scattering behaviour occurring in an irradiated polymer gel (note that light scattering in Fricke’s gels is very feeble, the latter being essentially absorbant).