Test of a proton radiography prototype with 62MeV protons

The Italian PRoton IMAging (PRIMA) collaboration is developing a Proton Computed Radiography (pCR) apparatus. It should be considered a first step toward Proton Computed Tomography (pCT), which is expected to be a valuable tool to directly measure stopping power distribution of tissues and to improve the quality of treatment planning in proton therapy. The pCR apparatus includes a tracker (based on a set of identical tracker modules, each including a silicon microstrip detector) to measure proton trajectory and a calorimeter (made of four YAG:Ce optically separated crystals) to measure residual energy. Two tracker modules can be assembled in a x-y plane, capable to measure the local coordinates of the incoming proton. The first assembled x-y plane has been recently coupled to the calorimeter, and this system was tested with 62MeV protons. Results from this experiment are presented in this contribution.