Low-energy light ion irradiation beam-line for radiobiological studies

In vitro radiobiological studies with ions require an extracted beam in air , uniformly spread over an area of at least 1 cm(2) characterised by a good monochromaticity. Moreover an accurate fluence monitoring is needed togeth er to an accurate off line calibration, taking into account the measurement geometry, to determine the absorbed dose. Finally energy, and then LET, fo llowing every traversed material, should be determined. In this framework w e set up a facility at the 3 MV Tandem HVC TTT-3 accelerator of the Univers ity of Naples "Federico II" using light ions up to Z = 6 and energy below 0 .6 MeV n(-1). Survival measurements of the V79 cell line following irradiat ion with beryllium, boron and carbon showed a good agreement with data from literature. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.