Output details
13 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials
Open University
Absolute total and partial cross sections for ionization of nucleobases by proton impact in the Bragg Peak velocity range
Molecular ionization and dissociation processes are of great interest in diverse areas of science ranging from plasma physics to radiation chemistry. The proton impact velocities in these experiments coincide with the Bragg peak maximum for energy deposition by ion beams in condensed media, the phenomenological basis for proton therapy cancer treatments. This work provides the first experimental cross sections for proton impact ionization of DNA and RNA bases. This is essential input data for nanoscale models of proton radiation induced processes in biological material, with key applications in optimizing proton therapy techniques.