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Cross-section of the telescope assembly, showing the two sections of TEP (grey) sandwiched between three detector pairs, connected via flexible cables (brown) to the analog signal processing board (green). |
Tissue Equivalent Plastic
Tissue equivalent plastic (or TEP) is an A-150 plastic designed specifically to simulate human tissue. Its hydrogen and nitrogen percentages-by-composition are representative of that found in human skin and muscle.
In Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Al-Sulaiti notes that "For energies typically encountered in proton therapy, A-150 plastic appears to be a good representation of water (and thereby very similar to tissue.)"
The atomic-level effects that radiation has on the TEP are useful in deducing what similar effects may occur in humans.