Fast Data Acquisition in Heavy Ion CT Using Intensifying Screen—EMCCD Camera System With Beam Intensity Monitor

We investigated the feasibility of fast data acquisition in heavy ion CT (IonCT) technique with an X-ray intensifying screen-charged coupled device (CCD) camera system. This technique is based on measuring the residual range distribution of heavy ions after passing through an object. We took a large number of images with a CCD camera for one projection by changing the range shifter (RS) thickness to obtain a characteristic curve similar to a Bragg curve and then to estimate the relative residual range. We used a high quality Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD) camera, which drastically reduced data acquisition time. We also used a parallel-plate ionization chamber upstream of an object to monitor the time variation in heavy ion beam intensity from a synchrotron accelerator and to perform beam intensity correction for all EMCCD images. Experiments were conducted using a broad beam of ¹²C, which was generated by spreading out the pencil beam accelerated up to 400 MeV/u by the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator, in Chiba (HIMAC) at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences, with a scatterer. We demonstrated that a fast CT data acquisition, 14 min for 256 projections, is possible for an electron density phantom, consisting of six rods with a relative electron density resolution of 0.017, using the proposed technique with HIMAC.