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IonTracks is an open source code for the calculation of recombination in ion beams

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IonTracks

Questions? Contact jeppebrage@gmail.com (mail addresses given in the papers are obsolete)

IonTracks calculations

Features the calculation of recombination losses in ion, electron, and photon beams in parallel-plate gas-filled ionization chambers:

  • Ion beams exhibit a non-uniform charge carrier distribution which is accounted for through amorphous track structure theory. Use the "IonBeams" scripts for ions.
  • Photon and electron beams are associated with uniform charge carrier densities. The current scripts enable the inclusion of electric fields varying in both time and space in constrast to theories.

Validation

Ion beams:

The IonTracks code is partially validated in Christensen, Jeppe Brage, Heikki Tölli, and Niels Bassler (2016) A general algorithm for calculation of recombination losses in ionization chambers exposed to ion beams Medical Physics 43.10: 5484-92 https://aapm.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1118/1.4962483

and Christensen, Jeppe Brage et al (2020) Mapping initial and general recombination in scanning proton pencil beams Phys. Med. Biol. 65 115003 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6560/ab8579

Photon and electron beams:

IonTracks is validated against the Boag theory (the basis of the Two-voltage method) for photon and electron beams with uniform charge carrier densities

Calculation of recombination losses

Both the IonBeams folder and the electron/photon folder feature example files.

Dependencies and installation

  • The software has been tested on Ubuntu 20.04
  • Following packages are required:
sudo apt install python3-pip python3-venv

Create python virtual environment venv, a directory which will hold compiled version of this package and all the libraries it needs to run (more on venv: https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html):

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

Compile this package and all its requirements:

CYTHONIZE=1 pip install --editable .

Run the example script:

python hadrons/example_single_track.py

When you are done, deactivate your virtual enviroment:

deactivate