title: Calcium carbonate as a possible dosimeter for high irradiation doses.
abstract: The aim of this work is to analyze the interactions of 5MeV electron beam radiation and a 290MeV/u Carbon beam with calcium carbonate (powder) at 298K and at different irradiation doses, for the potential use of calcium carbonate as a high-dose dosimeter. The irradiation doses with the electron beam were from 0.015 to 9MGy, and with Carbon beam from 1.5kGy to 8kGy. High-energy radiation induces the formation of free radicals in solid calcium carbonate that can be detected and measured by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). An increase of the EPR response for some of the free radicals produced in the sample was observed as a function of the irradiation dose. These measurements are reproducible; the preparation of the sample is simple and inexpensive; and the signal is stable for several months. The response curves show that the dosimeter tends to saturate at 10MGy. Based on these properties, we propose this chemical compound as a high-dose dosimeter, mainly for electron irradiation.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México D.F. 04510, Mexico. Electronic address: negron@nucleares.unam.mx.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Negron-Mendoza
authors.affiliation: Kent State University College of Technology, Kent OH, USA.
authors.forename: Roberto M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Uribe
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México D.F. 04510, Mexico.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramos-Bernal
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México D.F. 04510, Mexico.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Camargo-Raya
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México UNAM, México D.F., Mexico.
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gomez-Vidales
authors.affiliation: Yokohama National University, Japan.
authors.forename: Kensei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
keywords: Calcium carbonate; Dose effect; EPR; High-energy ionizing radiation