Track-structure mode for electrons, protons and carbon ions in the PHITS code

Matsuya, Yusuke  ; Kai, Takeshi   ; Ogawa, Tatsuhiko   ; Hirata, Yuho   ; Sato, Tatsuhiko   

Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) is a general-purpose Monte Carlo code enabling radiation kinetics, which is often used in diverse research fields, such as atomic energy, engineering, medicine and science. After released in 2010, the PHITS code has been developed to expand its functions and to improve its convenience. In the few years, track-structure mode has been introduced in PHITS that can simulate each atomic interaction by electrons, positions, protons and carbon ions in liquid water. Thanks to the development of track-structure mode, the latest PHITS code enables microscopic dose calculations by decomposing it to the scale of DNA. Aiming at realizing the track-structure mode with high precision, the further developments of electron and ion track-structure mode for arbitrary materials are recently ongoing. This review shows the development history and future prospect of PHITS track-structure mode, which can expect to be further applied to the research fields of atomic physics, radiation chemistry, and quantum life science.