Showing 1–14 of 14 results for author: Pei, X

A GPU-based Monte Carlo framework for IMRT QA using EPID transit dosimetry

Authors: Ning Gao, Didi Li, Na Liu, Yankui Chang, Qiang Ren, Xi Pei, Zhi Wang, Xie George Xu

Abstract: Purpose: We presented a GPU-based MC framework, ARCHER-EPID, specifically designed for EPID transit dosimetry, with improving accuracy and efficiency. Methods: A comprehensive MC framework was developed to perform full radiation transport simulations through three distinct zones: a detailed linear accelerator head model, a CT-based patient/phantom geometry, and a realistic, multi-layered EPID mode… ▽ More Purpose: We presented a GPU-based MC framework, ARCHER-EPID, specifically designed for EPID transit dosimetry, with improving accuracy and efficiency. Methods: A comprehensive MC framework was developed to perform full radiation transport simulations through three distinct zones: a detailed linear accelerator head model, a CT-based patient/phantom geometry, and a realistic, multi-layered EPID model. To convert the simulated absorbed dose to a realistic detector signal, a dose-response correction model was implemented. The framework was validated by comparing simulations against experimental measurements for 25 IMRT fields delivered to both a solid water phantom and a anthropomorphic phantom. Agreement was quantified using Gamma analysis. Results: The GPU-accelerated ARCHER-EPID framework can complete the simulation for a complex IMRT field in about 90 seconds. A 2D correction factor lookup table is generated by parameterizing radiological thickness and effective field size to account for the EPID's energy-dependent response. The data revealed that for small fields, beam hardening is the dominant effect, while for large fields, the contribution from patient-generated scatter overwhelms this effect. The average 2D gamma passing rates (3%/3 mm criteria) between simulation and measurements are 98.43% for the solid water phantom and 97.86% for the anthropomorphic phantom, respectively. Visual comparison of the images and dose profiles between simulation and measurements show a high degree of agreement. Conclusions: We have successfully developed and validated a GPU-based MC framework that provides gold-standard accuracy for EPID transit dosimetry in radiotherapy. The results demonstrate that our proposed method has potential for routine application in PSQA. △ Less

Submitted 28 October, 2025; originally announced October 2025.

Multi-Convergence-Angle Ptychography with Simultaneous Strong Contrast and High Resolution

Authors: Wei Mao, Weiyang Zhang, Chen Huang, Liqi Zhou, Judy. S. Kim, Si Gao, Yu Lei, Xiaopeng Wu, Yiming Hu, Xudong Pei, Weina Fang, Xiaoguo Liu, Jingdong Song, Chunhai Fan, Yuefeng Nie, Angus. I. Kirkland, Peng Wang

Abstract: Advances in bioimaging methods and hardware facilities have revolutionised the determination of numerous biological structures at atomic or near-atomic resolution. Among these developments, electron ptychography has recently attracted considerable attention because of its superior resolution, remarkable sensitivity to light elements, and high electron dose efficiency. Here, we introduce an innovat… ▽ More Advances in bioimaging methods and hardware facilities have revolutionised the determination of numerous biological structures at atomic or near-atomic resolution. Among these developments, electron ptychography has recently attracted considerable attention because of its superior resolution, remarkable sensitivity to light elements, and high electron dose efficiency. Here, we introduce an innovative approach called multi-convergence-angle (MCA) ptychography, which can simultaneously enhance both contrast and resolution with continuous information transfer across a wide spectrum of spatial frequency. Our work provides feasibility of future applications of MCA-ptychography in providing high-quality two-dimensional images as input to three-dimensional reconstruction methods, thereby facilitating more accurate determination of biological structures. △ Less

Submitted 25 March, 2024; originally announced March 2024.

Optimal face-to-face coupling for fast self-folding kirigami

Authors: Maks Pecnik Bambic, Nuno A. M. Araújo, Benjamin J. Walker, Duncan R. Hewitt, Qing Xiang Pei, Ran Ni, Giorgio Volpe

Abstract: Kirigami-inspired designs can enable self-folding three-dimensional materials from flat, two-dimensional sheets. Hierarchical designs of connected levels increase the diversity of possible target structures, yet they can lead to longer folding times in the presence of fluctuations. Here, we study the effect of rotational coupling between levels on the self-folding of two-level kirigami designs dri… ▽ More Kirigami-inspired designs can enable self-folding three-dimensional materials from flat, two-dimensional sheets. Hierarchical designs of connected levels increase the diversity of possible target structures, yet they can lead to longer folding times in the presence of fluctuations. Here, we study the effect of rotational coupling between levels on the self-folding of two-level kirigami designs driven by thermal noise in a fluid. Naturally present due to hydrodynamic resistance, we find that optimization of this coupling as control parameter can significantly improve a structure's self-folding rate and yield. △ Less

Submitted 9 July, 2023; originally announced July 2023.

Journal ref: Soft Matter (2024)

Noninvasive Photodelamination of van der Waals Semiconductors for High-Performance Electronics

Authors: Ning Xu, Xudong Pei, Lipeng Qiu, Li Zhan, Peng Wang, Yi Shi, Songlin Li

Abstract: Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals semiconductors are promising candidate materials for post-silicon electronics. However, it remains challenging to attain completely uniform monolayer semiconductor wafers free of over-grown islands. Here, we report the observation of the energy funneling effect and ambient photodelamination phenomenon in inhomogeneous few-layer WS$_2$ flakes under… ▽ More Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals semiconductors are promising candidate materials for post-silicon electronics. However, it remains challenging to attain completely uniform monolayer semiconductor wafers free of over-grown islands. Here, we report the observation of the energy funneling effect and ambient photodelamination phenomenon in inhomogeneous few-layer WS$_2$ flakes under low illumination fluencies down to several nW/$μ$m$^{2}$ and its potential as a non-invasive post-etching strategy for selectively stripping the local excessive overlying islands. Photoluminescent tracking on the photoetching traces reveals relatively fast etching rates around $0.3-0.8\,μ$m/min at varied temperatures and an activation energy of $1.7\,$eV. By using crystallographic and electronic characterization, we also confirm the non-invasive nature of the low-power photodelamination and the highly preserved lattice quality in the as-etched monolayer products, featuring a comparable average density of atomic defects (ca.$4.2\times 10^{13}\,$cm$^{-2}$) to pristine flakes and a high electron mobility up to $80\,$cm$^{2}\cdot$V$^{-1}\cdot$s$^{-1}$) at room temperature. This approach opens a non-invasive photoetching route for thickness uniformity management in 2D van der Waals semiconductor wafers for electronic applications. △ Less

Submitted 24 June, 2023; originally announced June 2023.

Comments: 30 pages, 4 figures, with SI

Journal ref: Advanced Materials, 35, 2300618 (2023)

4D-Explorer: A visual software for 4D-STEM data processing and image reconstruction

Authors: Yiming Hu, Si Gao, Xiaopeng Wu, Xudong Pei, Futao Huang, Wei Mao, Weiyang Zhang, Aidan Horne, Zhengbin Gu, Peng Wang

Abstract: With the development of high-speed electron detectors, four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) has emerged as a powerful tool for characterizing microstructures in material science and life science. However, the complexity of 4D-STEM data processing necessitates an intuitive graphical user interface software for researchers. In this regard, we have developed 4D-Explore… ▽ More With the development of high-speed electron detectors, four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) has emerged as a powerful tool for characterizing microstructures in material science and life science. However, the complexity of 4D-STEM data processing necessitates an intuitive graphical user interface software for researchers. In this regard, we have developed 4D-Explorer, an open-source, lightweight and extensible software for processing 4D-STEM data. It offers a visual and interactive workflow, including data preparation, calibration, image reconstruction and generating quantitative results. Furthermore, during calibration, our software includes a novel algorithm for rotational offset correction that uses a defocused 4D-STEM dataset and its axial bright field image, which has lower experimental requirements than conventional methods. We anticipate that 4D-Explorer will help researchers harness the capabilities of 4D-STEM technology. △ Less

Submitted 14 June, 2023; originally announced June 2023.

Comments: 44 pages, 23 figures

Compound Super-oscillation Lens for Reflective Confocal Imaging

Authors: Pengcheng Zheng, Zhaoxiang Zhu, Xiangcan Pei, Qinfei Wu, Haowen Liang, Yujie chen, Juntao Li, Xiangsheng Xie

Abstract: The super-oscillation lens (SOL) can achieve super-resolution focusing but have to trade-off with weaker hotspots and higher sidebands. We propose a single compound SOL to achieve reflective confocal imaging in principle without additional lenses. The designed SOL consists of an outer lens and an inner lens which play the role of focusing lens and collective lens respectively. As a result, focusin… ▽ More The super-oscillation lens (SOL) can achieve super-resolution focusing but have to trade-off with weaker hotspots and higher sidebands. We propose a single compound SOL to achieve reflective confocal imaging in principle without additional lenses. The designed SOL consists of an outer lens and an inner lens which play the role of focusing lens and collective lens respectively. As a result, focusing and collecting functions can be simultaneously realized. The improved system can achieve excellent imaging performance with an ultra-high resolution (<0.34λ/NA, NA stands for numerical aperture), and almost negligible side lobe ratio and no side bands, which proved superior to conventional laser scanning confocal microscopy and single SOL. This technology can be attractive for a variety of applications in super-resolution imaging and biomedical sciences. △ Less

Submitted 12 November, 2022; originally announced November 2022.

Comments: 20 pages, 12 figures,

Development of a GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo dose calculation module for nuclear medicine, ARCHER-NM: Demonstration for a PET/CT imaging procedure

Authors: Zhao Peng, Yu Lu, Yao Xu, Yongzhe Li, Bo Cheng, Ming Ni, Zhi Chen, Xi Pei, Qiang Xie, Shicun Wang, X. George Xu

Abstract: This paper describes the development and validation of a Monte Carlo (MC) dose computing module dedicated to organ dose calculations of patients undergoing nuclear medicine (NM) internal radiation exposures involving 18F-FDG PET/CT examination. This new module extends the more-than-10-years-long ARCHER project that developed a GPU-accelerated MC dose engine by adding dedicated NM source-definition… ▽ More This paper describes the development and validation of a Monte Carlo (MC) dose computing module dedicated to organ dose calculations of patients undergoing nuclear medicine (NM) internal radiation exposures involving 18F-FDG PET/CT examination. This new module extends the more-than-10-years-long ARCHER project that developed a GPU-accelerated MC dose engine by adding dedicated NM source-definition features. To validate the code, we compared dose distributions from the 0.511-MeV point photon source calculated for a water phantom as well as a patient PET/CT phantom against a well-tested MC code, GATE. The water-phantom results show excellent agreement, suggesting that the radiation physics module in the new NM code is adequate. To demonstrate the clinical utility and advantage of ARCHER-NM, one set of PET/CT data for an adult male NM patient is calculated using the new code. Radiosensitive organs in the CT dataset are segmented using a CNN-based tool called DeepViewer. The PET image intensity maps are converted to radioactivity distributions to allow for MC radiation transport dose calculations at the voxel level. The dose rate maps and corresponding statistical uncertainties were calculated for the duration of PET image acquisition. The dose rate results of the 18F-FDG PET imaging patient show that ARCHER-NM's results agree very well with those of the GATE within 0.58% to 4.11%. Most impressively, ARCHER-NM obtains such results in less than 0.5 minutes while it takes GATE as much as 376 minutes. This is the first study presenting GPU-accelerated patient-specific MC internal radiation dose rate calculations for clinically realistic 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging cases involving auto-segmentation of whole-body PET/CT images. This study suggests that modern computing tools -- ARCHER-NM and DeepViewer -- are accurate and fast enough for routine internal dosimetry in NM clinics. △ Less

Submitted 23 November, 2021; originally announced November 2021.

Comments: 17 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

Conceptual Design and Preliminary Results of a VR-based Radiation Safety Training System for Interventional Radiologists

Authors: Yi Guo, Li Mao, Gongsen Zhang, Zhi Chen, Xi Pei, X. George Xu

Abstract: Recent studies have reported an increased risk of developing brain and neck tumors, as well as cataracts, in practitioners in interventional radiology (IR). Occupational radiation protection in IR has been a top concern for regulatory agencies and professional societies. To help minimize occupational radiation exposure in IR, we conceptualized a virtual reality (VR) based radiation safety training… ▽ More Recent studies have reported an increased risk of developing brain and neck tumors, as well as cataracts, in practitioners in interventional radiology (IR). Occupational radiation protection in IR has been a top concern for regulatory agencies and professional societies. To help minimize occupational radiation exposure in IR, we conceptualized a virtual reality (VR) based radiation safety training system to help operators understand complex radiation fields and to avoid high radiation areas through game-like interactive simulations. The preliminary development of the system has yielded results suggesting that the training system can calculate and report the radiation exposure after each training session based on a database precalculated from computational phantoms and Monte Carlo simulations and the position information provided in real-time by the MS Hololens headset worn by trainee. In addition, real-time dose rate and cumulative dose will be displayed to the trainee by MS Hololens to help them adjust their practice. This paper presents the conceptual design of the overall hardware and software design, as well as preliminary results to combine MS HoloLens headset and complex 3D X-ray field spatial distribution data to create a mixed reality environment for safety training purpose in IR. △ Less

Submitted 14 January, 2020; originally announced January 2020.

Deep learning for accelerating Monte Carlo radiation transport simulation in intensity-modulated radiation therapy

Authors: Zhao Peng, Hongming Shan, Tianyu Liu, Xi Pei, Jieping Zhou, Ge Wang, X. George Xu

Abstract: Cancer is a primary cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The radiotherapy plays a more and more important role in cancer treatment. In the radiotherapy, the dose distribution maps in patient need to be calculated and evaluated for the purpose of killing tumor and protecting healthy tissue. Monte Carlo (MC) radiation transport calculation is able to account for all aspects of radiological ph… ▽ More Cancer is a primary cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The radiotherapy plays a more and more important role in cancer treatment. In the radiotherapy, the dose distribution maps in patient need to be calculated and evaluated for the purpose of killing tumor and protecting healthy tissue. Monte Carlo (MC) radiation transport calculation is able to account for all aspects of radiological physics within 3D heterogeneous media such as the human body and generate the dose distribution maps accurately. However, an MC calculation for doses in radiotherapy usually takes a great mass of time to achieve acceptable statistical uncertainty, impeding the MC methods from wider clinic applications. Here we introduce a convolutional neural network (CNN), termed as Monte Carlo Denoising Net (MCDNet), to achieve the acceleration of the MC dose calculations in radiotherapy, which is trained to directly predict the high-photon (noise-free) dose maps from the low-photon (noise-much) dose maps. Thirty patients with postoperative rectal cancer who accepted intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) were enrolled in this study. 3D Gamma Index Passing Rate (GIPR) is used to evaluate the performance of predicted dose maps. The experimental results demonstrate that the MCDNet can improve the GIPR of dose maps of 1x107 photons over that of 1x108 photons, yielding over 10x speed-up in terms of photon numbers used in the MC simulations of IMRT. It is of great potential to investigate the performance of this method on the other tumor sites and treatment modalities. △ Less

Submitted 17 October, 2019; originally announced October 2019.

A Method of Rapid Quantification of Patient-Specific Organ Dose for CT Using Coupled Deep-Learning based Multi-Organ Segmentation and GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo Dose Computing

Authors: Zhao Peng, Xi Fang, Pingkun Yan, Hongming Shan, Tianyu Liu, Xi Pei, Ge Wang, Bob Liu, Mannudeep K. Kalra, X. George Xu

Abstract: Purpose: This paper describes a new method to apply deep-learning algorithms for automatic segmentation of radiosensitive organs from 3D tomographic CT images before computing organ doses using a GPU-based Monte Carlo code. Methods: A deep convolutional neural network (CNN) for organ segmentation is trained to automatically delineate radiosensitive organs from CT. With a GPU-based Monte Carlo dose… ▽ More Purpose: This paper describes a new method to apply deep-learning algorithms for automatic segmentation of radiosensitive organs from 3D tomographic CT images before computing organ doses using a GPU-based Monte Carlo code. Methods: A deep convolutional neural network (CNN) for organ segmentation is trained to automatically delineate radiosensitive organs from CT. With a GPU-based Monte Carlo dose engine (ARCHER) to derive CT dose of a phantom made from a subject's CT scan, we are then able to compute the patient-specific CT dose for each of the segmented organs. The developed tool is validated by using Relative Dose Error (RDE) against the organ doses calculated by ARCHER with manual segmentation performed by radiologists. The dose computation results are also compared against organ doses from population-average phantoms to demonstrate the improvement achieved by using the developed tool. In this study, two datasets were used: The Lung CT Segmentation Challenge 2017 (LCTSC) dataset, which contains 60 thoracic CT scan patients each with 5 segmented organs, and the Pancreas-CT (PCT) dataset, which contains 43 abdominal CT scan patients each with 8 segmented organs. Five-fold cross-validation of the new method is performed on both datasets. Results: Comparing with the traditional organ dose evaluation method that based on population-average phantom, our proposed method achieved the smaller RDE range on all organs with -4.3%~1.5% vs -31.5%~33.9% (lung), -7.0%~2.3% vs -15.2%~125.1% (heart), -18.8%~40.2% vs -10.3%~124.1% (esophagus) in the LCTSC dataset and -5.6%~1.6% vs -20.3%~57.4% (spleen), -4.5%~4.6% vs -19.5%~61.0% (pancreas), -2.3%~4.4% vs -37.8%~75.8% (left kidney), -14.9%~5.4% vs -39.9% ~14.6% (gall bladder), -0.9%~1.6% vs -30.1%~72.5% (liver), and -23.0%~11.1% vs -52.5%~-1.3% (stomach) in the PCT dataset. △ Less

Submitted 29 September, 2019; v1 submitted 1 August, 2019; originally announced August 2019.

Investigation of Dosimetric Parameters of $^{192}$Ir MicroSelectron v2 HDR Brachytherapy Source Using EGSnrc Monte Carlo Code

Authors: Hamza Naeem, Chaobin Chen, Huaqing Zheng, Ruifen Cao, Xi Pei, Liqin Hu, Yican Wu

Abstract: The $^{192}$Ir sources are widely used for high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatments. The aim of this study is to simulate $^{192}$Ir MicroSelectron v2 HDR brachytherapy source and calculate the air kerma strength, dose rate constant, radial dose function and anisotropy function established in the updated AAPM Task Group 43 protocol. The EGSnrc Monte Carlo (MC) code package is used to calculat… ▽ More The $^{192}$Ir sources are widely used for high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatments. The aim of this study is to simulate $^{192}$Ir MicroSelectron v2 HDR brachytherapy source and calculate the air kerma strength, dose rate constant, radial dose function and anisotropy function established in the updated AAPM Task Group 43 protocol. The EGSnrc Monte Carlo (MC) code package is used to calculate these dosimetric parameters, including dose contribution from secondary electron source and also contribution of bremsstrahlung photons to air kerma strength. The Air kerma strength, dose rate constant and radial dose function while anisotropy functions for the distance greater than 0.5 cm away from the source center are in good agreement with previous published studies. Obtained value from MC simulation for air kerma strength is $9.762\times 10^{-8} \textrm{UBq}^{-1}$and dose rate constant is $1.108\pm 0.13\%\textrm{cGyh}^{-1} \textrm{U}^{-1}$. △ Less

Submitted 13 January, 2016; originally announced January 2016.

Comments: 7 pages

600-T Magnetic Fields due to Cold Electron Flow in a simple Cu-Coil irradiated by High Power Laser pulses

Authors: Baojun Zhu, Yutong Li, Dawei Yuan, Yanfei Li, Fang Li, Guoqian Liao, Jiarui Zhao, Jiayong Zhong, Feibiao Xue, Huigang Wei, Kai Zhang, Bo Han, Xiaoxing Pei, Chang Liu, Zhe Zhang, Weimin Wang, Jianqiang Zhu, Gang Zhao, Jie Zhang

Abstract: A new simple mechanism due to cold electron flow to produce strong magnetic field is proposed. A 600-T strong magnetic field is generated in the free space at the laser intensity of 5.7x10^15 Wcm^-2. Theoretical analysis indicates that the magnetic field strength is proportional to laser intensity. Such a strong magnetic field offers a new experimental test bed to study laser-plasma physics, in pa… ▽ More A new simple mechanism due to cold electron flow to produce strong magnetic field is proposed. A 600-T strong magnetic field is generated in the free space at the laser intensity of 5.7x10^15 Wcm^-2. Theoretical analysis indicates that the magnetic field strength is proportional to laser intensity. Such a strong magnetic field offers a new experimental test bed to study laser-plasma physics, in particular, fast-ignition laser fusion research and laboratory astrophysics. △ Less

Submitted 3 May, 2015; originally announced May 2015.

Comments: 8 pages, 4 figs

Deposition and characterization of TiZrV-Pd thin films by dc magnetron sputtering

Authors: Jie Wang, Bo Zhang, Yan-Hui Xu, Wei Wei, Le Fan, Xiang-Tao Pei, Yuan-Zhi Hong, Yong Wang

Abstract: TiZrV film is mainly applied in the ultra-high vacuum pipe of storage ring. Thin film coatings of palladium which was added onto the TiZrV film to increase the service life of nonevaporable getters and enhance pumping speed for H2, was deposited on the inner face of stainless steel pipes by dc magnetron sputtering using argon gas as the sputtering gas. The TiZrV-Pd film properties were investigate… ▽ More TiZrV film is mainly applied in the ultra-high vacuum pipe of storage ring. Thin film coatings of palladium which was added onto the TiZrV film to increase the service life of nonevaporable getters and enhance pumping speed for H2, was deposited on the inner face of stainless steel pipes by dc magnetron sputtering using argon gas as the sputtering gas. The TiZrV-Pd film properties were investigated by atomic force microscope (AFM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The grain size of TiZrV and Pd film were about 0.42~1.3 nm and 8.5~18.25 nm respectively. It was found that the roughness of TiZrV films was small, about 2~4 nm, for Pd film it is large, about 17~19 nm. PP At. % of Pd in TiZrV/Pd films varied from 86.84 to 87.56 according to the XPS test results. △ Less

Submitted 31 March, 2015; originally announced March 2015.

Comments: 13 pages,Chinese Physics C

Film Coating Process Research and Characterization of TiN Coated Racetrack-type Ceramic Pipe

Authors: Jie Wang, Yanhui Xu, Bo Zhang, Wei Wei, Le Fan, Xiangtao Pei, Yuanzhi Hong, Yong Wang

Abstract: TiN film was coated on the internal face of racetrack-type ceramic pipe by three different methods: radio-frequency sputtering, DC sputtering and DC magnetron sputtering. The deposition rates of TiN film under different coating methods were compared. According to the AFM, SEM, XPS test results,these properties were analyzed, such as TiN film roughness and surface morphology. At the same time, the… ▽ More TiN film was coated on the internal face of racetrack-type ceramic pipe by three different methods: radio-frequency sputtering, DC sputtering and DC magnetron sputtering. The deposition rates of TiN film under different coating methods were compared. According to the AFM, SEM, XPS test results,these properties were analyzed, such as TiN film roughness and surface morphology. At the same time, the deposition rates were studied under two types' cathode, Ti wires and Ti plate. According to the SEM test results, Ti plate cathode can improve the TiN/Ti film deposition rate obviously. △ Less

Submitted 12 January, 2015; originally announced January 2015.