Evaluation of TL response and intrinsic efficiency of TL dosimeters irradiated using different phantoms in clinical electron beam dosimetry

• TL dose response curves of the dosimeters for clinical electron beams.
• Evaluation of dosimeters for different phantoms.
• Sensitivity and intrinsic TL efficiency of the dosimeters for clinical electron beams.
• Effect of phantom materials in clinical electron beam dosimetry.

The TL response of LiF:Mg,Ti microdosimeters and CaSO4:Dy dosimeters were studied for 12 MeV electron beams using PMMA, liquid water and solid water (SW) phantoms. The different phantom materials affect the electron spectrum incident on the detector and it can alter the response of dosimeters to different radiation types, so this fact should be considered in clinical dosimetry. The dosimeters were irradiated with doses ranging from 0.1 up to 5 Gy using a Varian Clinac 2100C linear accelerator of Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein – HIAE using a 10 × 10 cm2 field size and 100 cm source-phantom surface distance, with the dosimeters positioned at the depth of maximum dose. The TL readings were carried out 24 h after irradiation using a Harshaw 3500 TL reader. This paper aims to compare the TL response relative to 60Co of the dosimeters for different phantoms used in radiotherapy dosimetry. CaSO4:Dy dosimeters presented higher TL sensitivity relative to 60Co and intrinsic efficiency than microLiF:Mg,Ti dosimeters for all phantoms.