Monte Carlo simulations of the imaging performance of metal plate/phosphor screens used in radiotherapy

The imaging performance of metal plate/phosphor screens which are used for the creation of portal images in radiotherapy is investigated by using Monte Carlo simulations. To this end the modulation transfer function, the noise power spectrum and the detective quantum efficiency [DQE(f)] are calculated for different metals and phosphors and different thicknesses of metal and phosphor for a range of spatial resolutions. The interaction of x-rays with the metal plate/phosphor screen is modeled with the EGS4 electron gamma shower code. Optical transport in the phosphor is modeled by simulating scattering and reabsorption events of individual optical photons. It is shown that metals with a high atomic number perform better than lighter metals in maximizing the DQE(f). It is furthermore shown that the DQE(f) for the metal plate/phosphor screen alone is nearly x-ray quantum absorption limited up to spatial frequencies of 0.4 cycles/mm. In addition, it is argued that the secondary quantum sink of optical photons imposed by the optical chain (mirror, lenses and video camera) leads to a significant degradation of the signal-to-noise ratio at spatial frequencies which are most important for successful registration of portal images. Therefore, the conclusion is that a replacement of the optical chain by a flat array of photodiodes placed directly under the phosphor will lead to a substantial improvement in image quality of portal images. (C) 1999 American Association of Physicists in Medicine. [S0094-2405(99)01710-1].