title: Absorbed dose to water determination with ionization chamber dosimetry and calorimetry in restricted neutron, photon, proton and heavy-ion radiation fields.
abstract: Absolute dose measurements with a transportable water calorimeter and ionization chambers were performed at a water depth of 20 mm in four different types of radiation fields, for a collimated (60)Co photon beam, for a collimated neutron beam with a fluence-averaged mean energy of 5.25 MeV, for collimated proton beams with mean energies of 36 MeV and 182 MeV at the measuring position, and for a (12)C ion beam in a scanned mode with an energy per atomic mass of 430 MeV u(-1). The ionization chambers actually used were calibrated in units of air kerma in the photon reference field of the PTB and in units of absorbed dose to water for a Farmer-type chamber at GSI. The absorbed dose to water inferred from calorimetry was compared with the dose derived from ionometry by applying the radiation-field-dependent parameters. For neutrons, the quantities of the ICRU Report 45, for protons the quantities of the ICRU Report 59 and for the (12)C ion beam, the recommended values of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) protocol (TRS 398) were applied. The mean values of the absolute absorbed dose to water obtained with these two independent methods agreed within the standard uncertainty (k = 1) of 1.8% for calorimetry and of 3.0% for ionometry for all types and energies of the radiation beams used in this comparison.
authors.affiliation: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany.heinbrede@apobrede.de
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Brede
authors.forename: K-D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Greif
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hecker
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Heeg
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heese
authors.forename: D T L
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kluge
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schardt
mesh_terms: D002151:Calorimetry / Q000379:methods*; D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes; D020450:Heavy Ions; D006801:Humans; D007477:Ions; D009502:Neutrons; D010315:Particle Accelerators; D017785:Photons; D011522:Protons; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes; D007477:Ions; D011522:Protons; D014867:Water