Measurement of the temperature distribution inside a calorimeter

Abstract

Hadron therapy is a novel treatment against cancer. The main advantage of this therapy causes less side effect in comparison to X-ray irradiation methods. Hadron therapy is just ahead of a significant breakthrough since this technique can be more precise, applying proton computer tomograph (pCT) to map the stopping power in the tissues. The research and development of a pCT require a fast detector to measure the energy of hadrons behind the patient. The best detector option is called hadron-tracking calorimeter, which consists of sandwich layers of silicon tracking detectors and absorber layers. The combination of measuring the trajectory (tracking process), and, in parallel, the energy of relativistic particles, can provide high-resolution hadron imaging. This semiconductor-based technology requires stable temperature and homogeneous cooling. I have worked in the development of this detector in the Bergen pCT Collaboration for two years. Last year my work was to investigate the temperature distribution in the calorimeter and examine two cooling concepts in detail. I performed both analytical and numerical calculations to analyze the temperature distribution of the calorimeter. The final decision about the design takes into account many engineering aspects, such as reliability, flexibility, and performance.