Radiation Quantities and Units - Joe Berresford - 13th May

Physics For FRCR
•FRCR Physics
•Basic physics relevant to radiotherapy
Joe Berresford ([email protected])

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
Why do FRCR students need to know
physics?
• Radiation dosimetry is physics
• You prescribe dose as part of your job
• A treatment plan must deliver the desired dose
• You need to understand
• the limitations of planning and delivery
• the effects of changes to the plan
• the role of others in radiotherapy

What physics do you need to know?
• The physics behind different choices of treatment

• Photons or electrons?
• What energy?
• Isocentric or fixed SSD
The physics behind important radiotherapy effects
• Skin sparing/electronic equilibrium
• Depositing dose at depth
• Shielding

• Limitations
• Planning algorithms
• Delivery systems
What happens if
• Patient moves/shrinks/is set up wrong
• Treated with wrong energy
• Radiation Protection


What is radiation?
A mechanism of energy transfer
by streams of sub-atomic particles

(particulate radiation)
by electromagnetic wave motion

(electromagnetic radiation)

Particulate Radiation
Electrons - small mass - negative charge
Neutrons - 1800 x electron mass - no charge
Proton -1800 electron mass – positive

charge
Ions e.g. a - particles

4 x neutron mass - positive charge

Electromagnetic Radiation
source
‘Broadcasting’ of energy via oscillating field strengths
no mass transfer no electric charge transfer

Electromagnetic waves
X-rays Gamma rays
Ultraviolet
Visible light
Infrared
Radio waves
Microwaves

Waves
Wave direction
Speed = wavelength x frequency
0
0
-1
wavelength
Waves – higher frequency
higher energy
shorter wavelength
0
0 40
-1

Waves – lower frequency
lower energy
longer wavelength
0
0
-1

The electromagnetic spectrum
Long wavelength Radio waves
Low frequency
Low energy
Microwaves
Infrared
Visible light
Ultraviolet
Short wavelength
High frequency X-rays Gamma rays
High energy
X-rays vs Gamma rays
• Electromagnetic radiation
• Similar range of frequencies and wavelength
• Gamma rays come from the atomic

nucleus
• X-ray production involves electrons

The electromagnetic spectrum
Wavelength (cm) Type of EM radiation
Long wavelength
Low frequency 106 = 1000,000 LF radio waves
Low energy 105 = 100,000 MF radio waves
104 = 10,000 HF short waves
103 = 1000 VHF short waves
102 = 100 UHF microwaves
10 SHF microwaves
1 EHF microwaves
10-1 = 0.1 Far Infrared
10-2 = 0.01 Near Infrared
10-3 = 0.001 Infrared
10-4 = 0.000,1 Visible light
10-5 = 0.000,01 Ultraviolet
Short wavelength 10-6 = 0.000,001 X-rays and gamma rays
High frequency
High energy
Electromagnetic Spectrum
IR UV Low energy X-rays High energy X and g rays
103 102 10 1 10-1 10-2 10-3

Wavelength l , nm
1 nanometer (nm) = 10 -9 metres

Wavelength, frequency and velocity
All electromagnetic radiation passes through a vacuum

at the same velocity, c = 2.998 x 108 m.s-1 (speed of light)
so, to travel the same distance in the same time radiation

of half the wavelength must have twice the frequency.
Wavelength, frequency and velocity
Generalising,
Velocity, c = wavelength, l x frequency, n
or
n = c/l

Photons – packets of energy!

Planck’s equation
The energy is only available in discrete amounts.

These are called quanta (singular = quantum)
The energy of each quantum
is proportional to the frequency
E = hn
(where h is Planck’s constant)

Quanta and photons
E = hn may be re-written as E = hc/l

The higher the frequency (or the shorter the wavelength)
then the higher the energy carried by the quantum.
A quantum may be regarded as a massless particle.
We call this a PHOTON.

Interactions
In the target of a linac

or x-ray machine
In a patient
on treatment

Electrons
• Negative charge
• Very small mass
• Part of every atom
- but can escape!

Electrons
• Attracted by positive charge (anode)

• Repelled by negative charge (cathode)
• Move through an electric field

Interactions of electrons in matter
• Ionisation
• Excitation

Atomic structure
Orbiting
electron
L
Nucleus

Ionisation
Released
Scattered

Excitation
Scattered

An ‘excited’ atom :
• is an energy store
• after the excitation it contains more energy than it had
prior to the excitation
• the extra energy that it has is equal to the difference in
the binding energies
• it will soon return to its original (stable) state and emit
the excess energy - as an X-ray

Characteristic X-ray emission

Bremsstrahlung

X-ray spectrum
Intensity
Line spectrum
(characteristic)
Continuous spectrum
(bremsstrahlung)
Energy

X-rays and g-rays
• X-rays arise from electron interactions

• characteristic X-rays - line spectrum
• bremsstrahlung X-rays - continuous spectrum
• gamma-rays arise from within an unstable
nucleus
• characteristic of the nuclide - line spectrum

Interactions of photons in the patient
• Photoelectric effect
• Compton Scatter
• Pair Production

Ionisation - by photoelectric effect
Released
(Primary)

Radiation
Particulate Electromagnetic (photons)
ionising ionising non-ionising
 - particles X-rays light

[electrons]
protons g-rays infra-red
neutrons radio waves
a - particles
[helium ions]

A few important concepts…
…………………….

Volts and electron volts
Volt Electron Volt
• A unit of electrical potential • A unit of energy
• One electron Volt = 1eV

the energy gained by one electron
accelerated through an electrical
potential of one Volt
1keV = 1000 eV
1MeV = 1000,000 eV

Linac terminology
• 6 MV linac
• applies an accelerating voltage of 6 megavolts
(Do not confuse with mV = millivolts)
• 6 MeV electrons
• electrons accelerated through 6MV
• 6 MV x-rays
• produced when 6MeV electrons strike a target
• have a spectrum of energies from 0 to 6 MeV

The inverse square law

The inverse square law

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Physics For FRCR

Joe Berresford ([email protected])

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

• The physics behind different choices of treatment

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

A mechanism of energy transfer

by streams of sub-atomic particles

by electromagnetic wave motion

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

Electrons - small mass - negative charge

Neutrons - 1800 x electron mass - no charge

Proton -1800 electron mass – positive

Ions e.g. a - particles

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

‘Broadcasting’ of energy via oscillating field strengths

no mass transfer no electric charge transfer

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

X-rays Gamma rays

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

• Gamma rays come from the atomic

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

IR UV Low energy X-rays High energy X and g rays

103 102 10 1 10-1 10-2 10-3

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

All electromagnetic radiation passes through a vacuum

so, to travel the same distance in the same time radiation

Velocity, c = wavelength, l x frequency, n

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The energy is only available in discrete amounts.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

E = hn may be re-written as E = hc/l

A quantum may be regarded as a massless particle.

We call this a PHOTON.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

In the target of a linac

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

• Attracted by positive charge (anode)

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

• X-rays arise from electron interactions

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

ionising ionising non-ionising

 - particles X-rays light