Lab 4:

Gafchromic Film Lab

Introduction
In this experiment, Gafchromic Film was used to examine absolute and relative dosimetry of a afterloaders radioactive source and various energy beams from the linear accelerator machine. The
exposed films were scanned using a commerical/profession film scanner and then analyzed by extracting intensity information. The scanned image was separated into its component colours so the
red channel could be analysed on its own since it has the greatest x-ray sensitivity.
The optical density (OD) could then be calculated by the following formula, where I0 is the background/unexposed intensity.
 
I0
OD = log10
I
Note that the optical density is a measurement of the how much radiation is absorbed. Therefore, a
relative value for the dose can be determined from the optical density.

Apparatus & Methods

This experiment consisted of three components. First, the brachytherapy afterloader was used to expose film at 1 cm intervals. By analysing the film, the dose at the various positions could be examined.
Next, film was separately exposed to 6 MeV and 20 MeV beams so that the dose profiles could be
examined. In both cases, the film was positioned perpendicularly in plane to the beam while being
sandwiched in two large peices of solid water. Lastly, three pieces of film were exposed to doses of 300,
400 and 500 MU respectively to determine an absolute dosage calibration curve. By using the optical
density the dosage of an unknown sample could be determined.
Please refer to the lab manual[1] for complete details on the experiment.

Data, Measurements & Calculations

Calibration
Using the permadoc phantom and the set scale functionality, ImageJ was calibrated to:
Scale: 59.074 pixels/cm

Dose Profiles
6MeV Range
In the image below is the location of where the dosage profile was obtained.

The following graph is of the optical density along the profile path. From it, the range R p was determined by equating the downward and trailing edge lines; that is:
y = 0.1973x + 0.642

y = 0.00467x + 0.0352

If y = y then x = 3.15 cm

From the table 6-3 from the text[2], the accepted value for the range was 3.002 cm (interpolated) which
was 4.7% different compared to our determined value. Since the error is rather small, the measurement
does agree.

6 MeV Optical Density per Depth

0.30

0.25

Downward edge line: y = 0.1973x + 0.642

Optical Density

0.20

0.15

3.15 cm
0.10

Trailing edge line: y = 0.00467x + 0.0352

0.05

0.00
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0
Depth (cm)

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

5.5

6.0

20MeV Range
In the image below is the location of where the dosage profile was obtained for the 20 MeV beam.

The graph on the next page is of the optical density along the profile path. The range R p was determined by equating the downward and trailing edge lines; that is:
y = 0.06799x + 0.7709

y = 0.001127x + 0.07587

If y = y then x = 10.39 cm

From the table 6-3 from the textbook[2], the accepted value for the range was 9.237 cm; a difference
of 12.5 %. If the measurements were shifted to the left by 1 cm to omit the dip at the beginning, then
the results would much more closer to the accepted value. The faulty region at the beginning was
probably due to unwanted scattering from not having the film precisely at the edge of the solid water.
Also, the solid water may have had not been adjacent to the film; it might have had a chamfered or
rounded edge.

20 MeV Optical Density per Depth

0.40

0.35

Optical Density

0.30

0.25

0.20
Downward edge line: y = 0.06799x + 0.7709

0.15

10.39 cm

0.10
Trailing edge line: y = 0.001127x + 0.07587

0.05

0.00
0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

11.0

12.0

Depth (cm)

Dose Measurements
The following table lists the optical density for various dosages at 6 MeV. Also, the OD value for the
test film sample is also listed.

Dose (MU)

Optical Density

300
400
500

0.25069
0.30269
0.34288

Test

0.27362

On the next page is the resulting calibration curve for the sample. From the curve, it was interpolated
that the unknown test sample had a dosage rate of 342 MU.

Dose per Optical Density

550

500
b

Dose (MU)

450

400
b

350

300

250
0.20

342
b

0.25 0.27362 0.30

Optical Density

0.35

0.40

Permadoc Dosimetry
The following image shows where the line profile was measured on the permadoc dataset.

The average background value of the permadoc image was determined to be 138.077. The following
graph shows the optical density as a function of distance (in cm) along the profile. Note that on the
graph, the peaks where identitied and labeled along the horizontal axis.

Permadoc Dosimetry Profile

0.6

0.5

Optical Density

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0
1.1

51 .133 .149 .130 .129 .128 .127 .125 .141 .139 .139 .120 .119 .135 .150 .132 .131 .129 .112
8
2
6
5
4
3
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
7

Distance (cm)

The peaks were examined, since their location corresponds to the placement of the tungsten lines
which should be spaced at 1 cm intervals. By analysing the data (not the graph), it was calculated that
the average spacing between the peaks was 0.998 0.017 cm. Note that the standard error was much
smaller compared to the pixel resolution (0.0007 vs 0.017 cm), so the pixel resolution was choosen.
Therefore, the afterloader does move to the desired 1 cm intervals each time.
The absolute distance does seem correct, that is the dose is centered about the peak. There are a few
cases where the peak isnt fully symmetric (at 14.13 and 15.15 cm), however in these cases the source
was incorrectly placed and was repositioned.
The minimum offset that one can measure is dependent on the pixel resolution of the scanned image.
In our case it was approximately 0.0169 cm.

Analysis & Discussion

The intensity value at the end of lateral portions of both beam profiles is approximately the same
(measured to have an intensity of approximately 164). In both cases, after the dose has been delivered
over a distance of R p , the intensity value is approximately the same as the background/no exposure
intensity value.
6

Conclusion
In this experiement, Gafchromic film was used to analyse the dose from two different radiation sources.
Ny using the optical density, it was found that the range for a 6 MeV beam was 3.15 cm and for a 20
MeV beam it was 10.39 cm. The unknown test sample was determined to have had a 342 MU dose at
6 MeV. Finally, by imaging the permadoc phantom it was shown that the afterloader does position the
source at the correct locations.

References
[1] Steven J. Rehse, Physics 470 Lab: Gafchromic Film Lab, University of Windsor, 2014.
[2] Harold Elford Johns, John Robert Cunningham, The Physics of Radiology, 4th edition. Thomas Books,
1983.