Development of a multi-layer ionization chamber for heavy-ion radiotherapy.

A multi-layer ionization chamber (MLIC) which consists of a stack of parallel plate-type ionization chambers in which the parallel configuration is in the depth direction was developed at the National Institute of Radiological Science (NIRS) and has been used as a field dosimeter for MU calibration since 2002. Although the MLIC can measure depth dose distributions at one time, a correction is needed to obtain an accurate dose at the center of the spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) in a water phantom. We attributed the observed difference between the correct dose at the center of the SOBP and the measured dose to the lack of water equivalence of the MLIC.