OSL in NaCl vs. TL in LiF for absorbed dose measurements and radiation quality assessment in the photon energy range 20 keV to 1.3 MeV

The aim of this study was to determine the photon energy dependence of absorbed dose measurements, in a comparison of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) in NaCl with thermoluminescence (TL) in LiF:Mg,Cu,P. The comparisons were made at exposure to ionizing radiation in the photon energy range 20 keV to 1.3 MeV. Specially designed dosemeter kits containing both NaCl and LiF were used under i) laboratory conditions using defined radiation fields, ii) laboratory conditions using sealed point sources mimicking unintentional exposures, and iii) field conditions in areas in Japan that were affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011. The dosemeter kits used in Japan showed that absorbed doses as low as 100 μGy can be assessed from the OSL signal in NaCl. The ratio of the dosemeter readings using OSL in NaCl and TL in LiF increases after irradiation at lower photon energies (less than a few hundred keV) as determined under laboratory conditions. Compensating for this energy dependence of the absorbed dose determinations obtained from OSL in NaCl would thus require an energy-dependent conversion factor for photon energies below 600 keV. On the other hand, the difference in the photon energy dependence between NaCl and LiF may be used to assess the mean effective energy of the photon field. The signal ratios between NaCl and LiF after exposure to radiation in the Fukushima Dashii contaminated areas in Japan, 1.67 ± 0.26 (2013) and 1.63 ± 0.32 (2015), indicate that the mean photon energy in this area was 300-400 keV during the years of the survey.