Proton Radiography

The purpose of this project is to compare X-ray with proton beam imaging simulation. In this project, proton radiography was proposed as an alternative diagnostic method for nuclear storage. The basis of the project was the use of proton radiography for the implosion test. For any nuclear weapon, implosion geometry is very important. Implosion test is necessary to guarantee that weapons will function as expected after many years of storage. These tests also help verify computer simulation of the performance of nuclear weapons.

There are other attempts to use the cyclotron for interesting medical purposes. In the late 1960's, Andy Koehler came up with the idea of ​​using light rays for "proton radiography" - to measure the density of the material rather than the high Z material displayed on X-ray of the CAT scan. The goal is to diagnose the cancer at an early stage, which manifests itself in a slight change in density - so the proton range will change. The beam has a clear range, and the range of centimeters mainly depends on the energy and density of the material. As the percentage of tumor density increases by a few percentage points, the range decreases by a few percentage points - this should be measurable. Since it is difficult to observe small density changes, this is better than normal X-ray photography. Normal X-rays at this time are due to the fact that the photon absorber tends to change to the fourth power together with the atomic number (Z). This evoked great interest in the scientific community.

Ordinary substances consist of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and consist of atoms. This atom consists of small nuclei consisting of protons and neutrons, which are one twentieth of the atomic size. The outer part of the atom consists of a large number of electrons equal to the number of protons, making normal atoms neutral.

An atom is defined by the number of protons and neutrons. The number of protons represents the number of atoms, determines which element is an atom, neutron contributes to atomic stability, and determines the number of isotopes. There is ample evidence that the most important stabilizing element in humans is lead with 82 protons. Several isotopes of lead with different numbers of neutrons are stable due to the structural symmetry of the atoms, since they have a number of "magic" protons. Normally, atoms with many protons and neutrons become asymmetric in atomic structure, become unstable, and collapse into lighter elements. However, chemists speculate that some of these very heavy elements may have stable isotopes