Specific Aims: The aim of this research project is to develop a fiducial marker that can be used for in vivo proton range verification following proton therapy. Our group has previously shown the feasibility of using novel elements as proton-activated fiducial markers that can be imaged using an off-site PET scanner (Cho et al 2013). In this research, we will investigate the optimal physical co...

Proton transfers are fundamental to chemical processes in solution and biological systems. Often, the well-known Grotthuss mechanism is assumed where a series of sequential "proton hops" initiates from the donor and combines to produce the net transfer of a positive charge over a long distance. Although direct experimental evidence for the sequential proton hopping has been obtained recently, a...

A NEW QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEM FOR DETECTING DEFECTS IN PROTON RANGE MODIFIERS FOR PROTON THERAPY Brad Kreydick, B.S. Department of Physics Northern Illinois University, 2013 George Coutrakon, Ph.D., Director Proton beam radiotherapy is an increasingly common and accepted form of cancer treatment, which utilizes the novel energy-deposition characteristics of heavy, charged particles to destroy tu...

We investigated simultaneously the 12C(e,e'p) and 12C(e,e'pp) reactions at Q2=2 (GeV/c)2, xB=1.2, and in an (e, e'p) missing-momentum range from 300 to 600 MeV/c. At these kinematics, with a missing momentum greater than the Fermi momentum of nucleons in a nucleus and far from the delta excitation, short-range nucleon-nucleon correlations are predicted to dominate the reaction. For (9.5+/-2)% o...

We argue that string percolation is in the origin of i) an approximately flat rapidity distribution and of ii) an approximately constant forward-backward correlation parameter b over a substantial fraction of the available rapidity. Predictions are given for pp collisions at LHC, √ s = 14TeV and √ s = 5.5TeV.

Four-transistor (T) pinned photodiode (PPD) CMOS image sensors (CISs) with four-megapixel resolution using 11µm pitch high dynamic range pixel were radiated with 3 MeV and 10MeV protons. The dark signal was measured pre- and post-radiation, with the dark signal post irradiation showing a remarkable increase. A theoretical method of dark signal distribution pre- and post-radiation is used to ana...

Due to their Bragg peak, proton beams are capable of delivering a targeted dose of radiation to a narrow volume, but range uncertainties currently limit their accuracy. One promising beam characterization technique, protoacoustic range verification, measures the acoustic emission generated by the proton beam. We simulated the pressure waves generated by proton radiation passing through water. W...

A reflectance method has been used to assess conduction band edge energies (Ecb) for nanocrystalline TiO2(anatase) electrodes in contact with aqueous electrolytes. The measurements, which were made over a range of nearly 40 pH units, reveal a Nernstian dependence of Ecb upon pH over most of this range, i.e., a -64 mV shift per unit decrease in log(proton activity) between H0 ) -8 and H) +23. El...

Metal fiducial markers are often implanted on the back of the eye before proton therapy to improve target localization and reduce patient setup errors. We aim to detect characteristic x-ray emissions from metal targets during proton therapy to verify the treatment range accuracy. Initially gold was chosen for its biocompatibility properties. Proton-induced x-ray emissions (PIXE) from a 15 mm di...