Irradiation of luminescence dosimeters in pulsed mixed radiation fields

TL;DR

This paper investigates the response of thermoluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters to pulsed mixed radiation fields in advanced radiotherapy settings, aiming to improve dosimetry standards for FLASH and laser-driven therapies.

Contribution

It provides experimental data and comparative analysis of TL and OSL detectors' responses in complex pulsed radiation fields, aiding model development for advanced radiotherapy dosimetry.

Findings

TL and OSL detectors' responses vary with radiation field complexity

Experimental characterization of detectors at the Microtron MT25

Comparison of detector responses in mixed radiation fields

Abstract

UHDpulse - Metrology for Advanced Radiotherapy using beams with Ultra-High Pulse Dose Rates is a European project aimed at developing novel dosimetry standards, as well as improving existing ones, for FLASH radiotherapy, very high energy electrons radiotherapy, and laser-driven medical accelerators. Within the scope of this project, Thermoluminescence (TL) and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) detectors are used to measure stray radiation fields. Experiments performed with conventional pulsed particle-beams allow to characterize the dosimeters in known and controllable radiation fields. In turn, this allows to develop models and predict their behavior in complex radiation fields, such as those at laser-driven and FLASH facilities. TL and OSL detectors were irradiated at the Microtron MT25 electron accelerator in Prague, Czech Republic. GAFChromicTM films and plastic nuclear track detectors were used to study the beam profile and the neutron background respectively. The responses of the different detector to the pulsed mixed radiation fields of the Microtron MT25 are compared among each other and presented in this paper.