High-resolution heavy ion track structure imaging

Radiation action in matter depends on the details of the spatial distribution of energy transfer events on the nanometer scale. In this contribution, we present an instrument for experimental investigation of spatial ionisation patterns of ions in matter. The experimental system is based on a time projection chamber with a parallel drift field, parallel-plate charge and light amplification layers and optical readout with an image-intensified CCD camera (OPtical Avalanche Chamber (OPAC)). The chamber is operated with low pressure gas (4–40 hPa) to achieve a resolution of down to 50 nm in tissue density. Preliminary results of measurements and simulations are presented.