摘要: 能量选择系统是医用质子回旋加速器放疗系统中极其重要的部件，主要用来调节质子束能量，使得从加速器出来的质子束能量满足临床治疗计划的要求。能量选择系统的核心部件是降能器，目前降能器大多采用石墨作为降能材料。近些年提出用铍或者碳化硼替代石墨作为降能器材料的设想，以期望提高质子束流的传输效率。利用蒙特卡罗软件TOPAS模拟200 MeV质子在石墨、铍和碳化硼三种不同材料多楔形结构降能器中的输运过程，统计了穿过降能器后质子以及产生的次级中子的能量通量，并计算了质子束流在穿过不同降能器后的能量分散，据此得到了三种材料降能器厚度与质子能量之间的关系曲线，同时也分析了不同降能器对质子束传输效率的影响以及次级中子产额的情况。通过对比发现，三种材料降能器对束流的能量发散效果相当，而使用铍或者碳化硼都能提高束流传输效率，尤其铍降能器的性能较优。但铍和碳化硼与质子相互作用会产生更多的次级中子，因此在实际应用时需要更多地考虑次级中子对设备的辐射防护。


Energy selection system (ESS) is an important component for medical proton cyclotron system. It has been widely used to modulate the proton energy in accordance with treatment requirements. ESS consists of the energy degrader which was mostly made of graphite. Recent years, to improve the transmission efficiency of the proton beams, beryllium and boron carbide have been proposed to substitute the graphite. In this work, the Monte Carlo code, TOPAS, was used to simulate the transport process of 200 MeV proton beams traversing the multi-wedge energy degrader made of graphite, beryllium and boron carbide, respectively. Energy fluxes of the protons and secondary neutrons after degrader, as well as the energy dispersion of the degraded proton beams, were calculated. It is found that the energy dissipation effect is nearly identical for all three kinds of degrader material, but using the beryllium or even boron carbide can improve the proton transmission efficiency. However, more secondary neutrons would be produced when proton beams interact with the beryllium and boron carbide, suggesting the need of additional consideration for radiation shielding to devices.