Plane-parallel ionization chamber response in the buildup region of obliquely incident photon beams

Fixed-separation plane-parallel ionization chambers have been shown to overestimate the dose in the buildup region of normally incident high-energy photon beams. This work shows that these ionization chambers exhibit an even greater over-response in the buildup region of obliquely incident photon beams. This over-response at oblique incidence is greatest at the surface of the phantom and increases with increasing angle of beam incidence. In addition, the magnitude of the over-response depends on held size, beam energy, and chamber construction. This study shows that plane-parallel ionization chambers can over-respond by more than a factor of 2.3 at the phantom surface for obliquely incident high-energy photon fields. (C) 1997 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.