Natural and CVD type diamond detectors as dosimeters in hadrontherapy applications

Diamond is potentially a suitable material for use as radiation dosimeter; the wide band gap results in low dark currents and low sensitivity to visible light, the high carrier mobility can give rapid response, the very high density of strong bonds in the crystal structure make diamond very resistant to radiation damage; moreover it is tissue equivalent. The more recent advances in the synthesis of polycrystalline diamond by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) techniques have allowed the synthesis of material with electronic properties suitable for dosimetric application. In this paper we will report the results obtained in the study of the response of a natural diamond dosimeter and a CVD one irradiated with 62 AMeV proton beams to demonstrate their possible application in protontherapy.