Metal Micro-detectors for Radiation therapy instrumentation

Physics and techniques of the metal detectors measuring and imaging charged particles and synchrotron radiation beams are presented. An extremely low thickness (~ 1 micron) of the Metal Micro-strip Detector (MMD) combined with its high radiation tolerance (~ 100 MGy) introduces an opportunity to keep a device in the beam, permanently. `In-situ' operation of the MMD provides non-destructive beam diagnostics in real time. Characterization studies of the MMD at the Mini-beam Radiation Therapy setup (Bio-Medical Beamline ID17, ESRF, France) have been recently performed. The results obtained illustrate an excellent performance of the metal micro-pixel detector TimePix providing online synchrotron radiation beam monitoring.