Modelling and calculations of the response of tissue equivalent proportional counter to charged particles

Space activities in earth orbit or in deep space pose challenges to the estimation of risk factors for both astronauts and instrumentation. In space, risk from exposure to ionising radiation is one of the main factors limiting manned space exploration. Therefore, characterising the radiation environment in terms of the types of radiations and the quantity of radiation that the astronauts are exposed to is of critical importance in planning space missions. In this paper, calculations of the response of TEPC to protons and carbon ions were reported. The calculations have been carried out using Monte Carlo track structure simulation codes for the walled and the wall-less TEPC counters. The model simulates non-homogenous tracks in the sensitive volume of the counter and accounts for direct and indirect events. Calculated frequency- and dose-averaged lineal energies 0.3 MeV-1 GeV protons are presented and compared with the experimental data. The calculation of quality factors (QF) were made using individual track histories. Additionally, calculations of absolute frequencies of energy depositions in cylindrical targets, 100 nm height by 100 nm diameter, when randomly positioned and oriented in water irradiated with 1 Gy of protons of energy 0.3-100 MeV, is presented. The distributions show the clustering properties of protons of different energies in a 100 nm by 100 nm cylinder. (authors)