Simultaneous neutron and gamma imaging system for real time range and dose monitoring in Hadron Therapy and nuclear security applications

Instituto de Física Corpuscular, CSIC-University of Valencia, Spain

^* Corresponding author: jorge.lerendegui@ific.uv.es

Published online: 11 April 2022

Abstract

GN-Vision is a novel dual γ-ray and neutron imaging system, which aims at imaging, simultaneously to the prompt gammas, the spatial origin of the slow and thermal neutron dose (<100 eV) generated during hadron therapy treatments. The proposed device can also be of interest for industrial applications as well as in nuclear security. The GN-Vision system has been designed following the technical developments of the iTED detector, an array of high efficiency Compton cameras intended for neutron-capture experiments, in which γ-ray energies span up to 5-6 MeV, similar to the energies encountered in hadron therapy. This manuscript presents the evolution of the i-TED detector towards the GN-Vision system and the first conceptual study of the simultaneous neutron and γ-ray imaging capability. Last, it reviews the status of the development and first results of the promising performance of this device for PG imaging in proton therapy, based on MC simulations.