The radiobiological effects of ionising radiations are strongly correlated to the local density of lesions produced in micrometre- and nanometre-sized subcellular structures, and thus to the track structure properties of interacting particles. These properties have been studied mainly by means of Monte Carlo simulations, however experimental methodologies and instruments have also been developed that allow to measure the stochastics of ionisations produced in a nanometric sensitive volume (SV) by charged particles crossing it or passing nearby at specified distances. The number ν of ionisations produced in SV by the passage of a single primary ionising particle is measured, and the measurement is repeated many times to produce a probability distribution P(ν), called ionisation cluster size distribution. Measurable quantities can be derived that correlate with the biological effectiveness of the specific radiation quality (ion type and velocity). In view of the emerging interest of carbon ions in radiotherapy, it is important to characterize not only the track structure of carbon ions but also that of other light ions that are produced in nuclear interactions. This work presents first experimental results for boron ions at 80 MeV. Ionisation cluster size distributions were measured with the Startrack-Counter installed at the TANDEM-ALPI accelerator complex at the Legnaro National Laboratories (LNL) of the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and simulated by means of a dedicated Monte Carlo code. Measurements and simulations were performed for particles that traverse directly the sensitive volume or pass nearby at specified impact parameters.

电离辐射的放射生物学效应与微米级和纳米级亚细胞结构中产生的局部损伤密度密切相关，因此与相互作用粒子的轨迹结构特性密切相关。这些特性主要通过蒙特卡罗模拟进行研究，但也开发了实验方法和仪器，允许测量通过带电粒子穿过或在指定距离附近通过在纳米敏感体积 ( SV) 中产生的电离的随机性. 测量通过单个初级电离粒子在SV 中产生的电离数ν，并重复测量多次以产生概率分布P(ν)，称为电离簇大小分布。可以推导出与特定辐射质量（离子类型和速度）的生物有效性相关的可测量量。鉴于碳离子在放射治疗中的新兴趣，重要的是不仅要表征碳离子的轨道结构，还要表征核相互作用中产生的其他轻离子的轨道结构。这项工作展示了 80 MeV 硼离子的第一个实验结果。电离簇大小分布是使用安装在意大利国家研究所 (INFN) 的莱尼亚罗国家实验室 (LNL) 的 TANDEM-ALPI 加速器综合体上的 Startrack-Counter 测量的，并通过专用的蒙特卡罗代码进行模拟。