SU-F-J-46: Feasibility of Cerenkov Emission for Absorption Spectroscopy.

PURPOSE: Cerenkov emission (CE) is a promising tool for online tumor microenvironment interrogation and targeting during radiotherapy. In this work, we utilize CE generated during radiotherapy as a broadband excitation source for real-time absorption spectroscopy. We demonstrate the feasibility of CE spectroscopy using a controlled experiment of materials with known emission/absorption properties.

METHODS: A water tank is irradiated with 20 MeV electron beam to induce Cerenkov emission. Food coloring dyes (Yellow #5, Red #40, and Blue #1), which have known emission/absorption properties were added to the water tank with increasing concentration (1 drop (0.05 mL), 2 drops, and 4 drops from a dispenser bottle). The signal is collected using a condensing lens which is coupled into a 20m optical fiber that is fed into a spectrometer that measures the emitted spectra. The resulting spectra from water/food coloring dye solutions were normalized by the reference spectrum, which is the Cerenkov spectrum of pure water, correcting for both the nonlinearity of the broadband Cerenkov emission spectrum as well as the non-uniform spectral response of the spectrometer. The emitted spectra were then converted into absorbance and their characteristics were analyzed.

RESULTS: The food coloring dye had a drastic change on the Cerenkov emission, shifting its wavelength according to its visible color. The collected spectra showed various absorbance peaks which agrees with tabulated peak positions of the dyes added within 0.3% for yellow, 1.7% for red, and 0.16% for blue. The CE peak heights proportionally increased as the dye concentration is increased.

CONCLUSION: This work shows the potential for real-time functional spectroscopy using Cerenkov emission during radiotherapy. It was demonstrated that molecule identification as well as relative concentration can be extracted from the Cerenkov emission color shift.