title: Optically stimulated luminescent glass optical fibre dosemeter.
abstract: An optical fibre radiation dosemeter has been developed that utilises optically stimulated luminescence and scintillation to provide independent, remote, real-time dose measurements. The radiation sensitive element consists of a 1 mm long, 0.4 mm diameter piece of copper-ion-doped fused quartz that is attached to a 1 m length of commercial optical fibre. The dosemeter probe is 0.6 mm in diameter and is flexible enough to be used in standard medical catheters for internal radiation dose measurements. A four-channel dosemeter system has been built and characterised under conditions typical of a radiotherapy environment. The device exhibits a linear response over the range of doses from 0.01 Gy to 10 Gy. The dosemeter responds identically to both electrons and photons in the range from 4 to 20 MV and the calibration was retained to within +/-2% over a period of 4 weeks. The fibre dosemeter has been used successfully to verity doses received by three patients receiving radiotherapy treatments.
authors.affiliation: Optical Sciences Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA. alan.huston@nrl.navy.mil
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Huston
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Justus
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Falkenstein
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ning
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Altemus
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D004583:Electrons; D004867:Equipment Design; D005898:Glass; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D017785:Photons; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation*