A study of the characteristics of radiation contaminants within a clinically useful photon beam.

Contaminant radiation within a therapeutic beam has been studied for accelerator-produced 24-MV x rays by a direct measurement utilizing independent jaws. A carefully positioned diode was exposed to secondary radiation for various collimator settings that project field sizes between [10 X (0 + 5)] and [26 X (0 + 13)] cm at a source-to-axis distance of 1 m. [The notation [L X (W1 + W2)] means the projected field area due to lower (L) and upper (W1, W2) jaws.] Measurements were taken by placing polystyrene sheets with density thicknesses ranging from 0.21 to 4.53 g cm-2 in front of the detector. The data strongly demonstrate that with increasing field size, the ratio of the dose due to electrons to that due to photons increases rapidly. The characteristic feature of the electron depth dose curves may be linked to the observed shift in the depth of dose maximum (dmax) with field size. Data taken with a magnetic field of 0.15 T permit analysis of photons and electrons with regard to their intensity, energy, and behavior in a phantom. From an analysis of 12.5 X 12.5 cm data, various radiation components have been studied and are correlated with the observed contaminants.