SUMMARY

The goal of this research is to evaluate the secondary prompt gamma (PG) yield from proton therapy at high characteristic energies from MC model simulations and
experimental data. Recent studies indicate that target composition influences PG characteristic energy and yield, and the quantification of PG may be used to offer
real-time dose verification for proton therapy. As these measurements have not been previously performed pecifically for prompt gamma analysis, I plan to collect experimental data and create MC simulations to evaluate the characteristic measurements and total yield of secondary PG emitted from a target in the 1-7 MeV range from a proton therapy beam. I will compare the results from 4 different beam energies, in several target materials (carbon, calcium, air, water, PMMA, and HDPE), in order to evaluate the influence of the incident energy and the target material on the PG energy spectra.