| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1884339 | Radiation Measurements | 2011 | 6 Pages |
The results of EPR measurements performed due to our participation in the 4th International Comparison of EPR Dosimetry using tooth enamel were used to analyze the effects of modifications in numerical analysis of the measured spectra on precision and accuracy of reconstructed doses. The studied modifications included effects of: (1) a use of Mn2+ standard, (2) variations in experimental native background signals of tooth enamel used for dose reconstructions, (3) signal filtration, (4) subtraction of empty tube spectra, and (5) variations in the spectra ranges used for calculations (fitting windows). It was shown, that the use of a Mn standard, for normalization of intensities of the recorded signals in the spectra processing, strongly increased the dosimetric accuracy. The regression lines of the doses reconstructed using different background spectra against nominal doses, obtained without Mn standard, had slopes about 30% higher and their scatter range was about 2 times higher than the same parameters obtained when Mn standard was applied in the spectra processing. Accuracy of the measured doses characterized by root mean square deviations from the nominal doses was 71 mGy for calculations with Mn standard and 241 mGy without normalization to Mn lines. Despite the large beneficial effect of the use of Mn standard on accuracy (root mean square deviations of the data, slope of the regression lines), it did not significantly improve the dosimetry performance characterized by the critical dose and detection limit. The smoothing of the spectra by 9 point filtration resulted in 1.6% increase of the reconstructed doses. The subtraction of empty tube spectrum had no effect on precision and accuracy of the dose reconstruction. The performance parameters were also practically insensitive to a choice of a width of the spectral window used for the analysis, provided it encompassed the ∼1.6 mT range covering the main peaks of the radiation induced signal in enamel. It was concluded, that a proper choice of the background spectrum has the strongest influence on quality of the retrospective dosimetry. Experimentally obtained background spectra subject to individual variations and their shape could be affected by sample preparation method, leading to inter-sample differences in their spectral components contributing to the radiation induced signal. This effect caused considerable (up to ∼300 mGy) systematic errors in the reconstructed doses.
