Scintillation Dosimetry delivers a comprehensive introduction to plastic scintillation dosimetry, covering everything from basic radiation dosimetry concepts to plastic scintillating fiber optics. Comprised of chapters authored by leading experts in the medical physics community, the book: Discusses a broad range of technical implementations, from point source dosimetry scaling to 3D-volumetric and 4D-scintillation dosimetry Addresses a wide scope of clinical applications, from machine quality assurance to small-field and in vivo dosimetry Examines related optical techniques, such as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) or Čerenkov luminescence Thus, Scintillation Dosimetry provides an authoritative reference for detailed, state-of-the-art information on plastic scintillation dosimetry and its use in the field of radiation dosimetry.

Scintillation Dosimetry delivers a comprehensive introduction to plastic scintillation dosimetry, covering everything from basic radiation dosimetry concepts to plastic scintillating fiber optics. Comprised of chapters authored by leading experts in the medical physics community, the book: Discusses a broad range of technical implementations, from point source dosimetry scaling to 3D-volumetric and 4D-scintillation dosimetry Addresses a wide scope of clinical applications, from machine quality assurance to small-field and in vivo dosimetry Examines related optical techniques, such as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) or Čerenkov luminescence Thus, Scintillation Dosimetry provides an authoritative reference for detailed, state-of-the-art information on plastic scintillation dosimetry and its use in the field of radiation dosimetry.

Scintillation Dosimetry delivers a comprehensive introduction to plastic scintillation dosimetry, covering everything from basic radiation dosimetry concepts to plastic scintillating fiber optics. Comprised of chapters authored by leading experts in the medical physics community, the book

The Theory and Practice of Scintillation Counting is a comprehensive account of the theory and practice of scintillation counting. This text covers the study of the scintillation process, which is concerned with the interactions of radiation and matter; the design of the scintillation counter; and the wide range of applications of scintillation counters in pure and applied science. The book is easy to read despite the complex nature of the subject it attempts to discuss. It is organized such that the first five chapters illustrate the fundamental concepts of scintillation counting. Chapters 6 to 10 detail the properties and applications of organic scintillators, while the next four chapters discuss inorganic scintillators. The last two chapters provide a review of some outstanding problems and a postscript. Nuclear physicists, radiation technologists, and postgraduate students of nuclear physics will find the book a good reference material.

A straightforward presentation of the broad concepts underlying radiological physics and radiation dosimetry for the graduate-level student. Covers photon and neutron attenuation, radiation and charged particle equilibrium, interactions of photons and charged particles with matter, radiotherapy dosimetry, as well as photographic, calorimetric, chemical, and thermoluminescence dosimetry. Includes many new derivations, such as Kramers X-ray spectrum, as well as topics that have not been thoroughly analyzed in other texts, such as broad-beam attenuation and geometrics, and the reciprocity theorem. Subjects are layed out in a logical sequence, making the topics easier for students to follow. Supplemented with numerous diagrams and tables.

This book introduces the physics and chemistry of plastic scintillators (fluorescent polymers) that are able to emit light when exposed to ionizing radiation, discussing their chemical modification in the early 1950s and 1960s, as well as the renewed upsurge in interest in the 21st century. The book presents contributions from various researchers on broad aspects of plastic scintillators, from physics, chemistry, materials science and applications, covering topics such as the chemical nature of the polymer and/or the fluorophores, modification of the photophysical properties (decay time, emission wavelength) and loading of additives to make the material more sensitive to, e.g., fast neutrons, thermal neutrons or gamma rays. It also describes the benefits of recent technological advances for plastic scintillators, such as nanomaterials and quantum dots, which allow features that were previously not achievable with regular organic molecules or organometallics.

Simulations and experiments have been carried out to explore using a plastic scintillator as a dosimetry probe in the vicinity of a pulsed bremsstrahlung source in the range 4 to 20 MeV. Taking advantage of the tissue-equivalent properties of this detector in conjunction with the use of a fast digital signal processor near real-time dosimetry was shown to be possible. The importance of accounting for a broad energy electron beam in bremsstrahlung production, and photon scattering and build-up, in correctly interpreting dosimetry results at long stand-off distances is highlighted by comparing real world experiments with ideal geometry simulations. Close agreement was found between absorbed energy calculations based upon spectroscopic techniques and calculations based upon signal integration, showing a ratio between 10 MeV absorbed dose to 12 MeV absorbed dose of 0.66 at a distance of 91.4 m from the accelerator. This is compared with an idealized model simulation with a monoenergetic electron beam and without scattering, where the ratio was 0.46.

Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) has become the technique of choice for many areas of radiation dosimetry. The technique is finding widespread application in a variety of radiation dosimetry fields, including personal monitoring, environmental monitoring, retrospective dosimetry (including geological dating and accident dosimetry), space dosimetry, and many more. In this book we have attempted to synthesize the major advances in the field, covering both fundamental understanding and the many applications. The latter serve to demonstrate the success and popularity of OSL as a dosimetry method.The book is designed for researchers and radiation dosimetry practitioners alike. It delves into the detailed theory of the process from the point of view of stimulated relaxation phenomena, describing the energy storage and release processes phenomenologically and developing detailed mathematical descriptions to enable a quantitative understanding of the observed phenomena. The various stimulation modes (continuous wave, pulsed, or linear modulation) are introduced and compared. The properties of the most important synthetic OSL materials beginning with the dominant carbon-doped Al2O3, and moving through discussions of other, less-well studied but nevertheless important, or potentially important, materials. The OSL properties of the two most important natural OSL dosimetry material types, namely quartz and feldspars are discussed in depth. The applications chapters deal with the use of OSL in personal, environmental, medical and UV dosimetry, geological dating and retrospective dosimetry (accident dosimetry and dating). Finally the developments in instrumentation that have occurred over the past decade or more are described. The book will find use in those laboratories within academia, national institutes and the private sector where research and applications in radiation dosimetry using luminescence are being conducted. Potential readers include personnel involved in radiation protection practice and research, hospitals, nuclear power stations, radiation clean-up and remediation, food irradiation and materials processing, security monitoring, geological and archaeological dating, luminescence studies of minerals, etc.

Radiation detectors are fundamental tools for the quantitative characterization of therapeutic fields of ionizing radiation. Dosimetry measurements aim to quantify the amount of energy deposited in the body (dose). Therefore, an ideal detector would respond to radiation the same way the human body does. However, the fact that most radiation detectors are not tissue equivalent poses a major challenge. Organic electronics are attractive candidates for radiation detectors due to their potential to be made flexible, configuration highly customizable, wide selection of materials, and tissue equivalence. In this thesis we investigate a novel detector (stemless plastic scintillation detector - SPSD), which couples an organic photodiode to a plastic scintillator. Plastic scintillation detectors (PSDs) offer characteristics that are ideal for the measurement of small fields (high spatial resolution, real-time measurements, tissue equivalence, etc.). However, PSDs suffer from Cerenkov radiation (created in the optical fiber) contaminating the signal and must be corrected. The SPSD detector eliminates the need for an optical fiber to carry the signal. Such a detector could have the advantages of a PSD, while removing the main drawback. A series of four manuscripts form the basis for this thesis. The first manuscript showed an organic photodiode had potential as a radiation detector directly (linearity with dose rate and output factors agreed with a commercial detector). The second explained and validated a novel method for the correction of an extraneous signal (Compton current) in organic photodiode detectors. The third manuscript investigated a single-element SPSD, which was fabricated by coupling an organic photodiode to an organic scintillator. The SPSD was characterized by measuring various dependencies of the detector including: instantaneous dose rate dependence, energy dependence, directional dependence, and linearity with dose. Furthermore, Cerenkov radiation was shown to be minimal and the directional dependence it caused could be effectively eliminated by using reflective tape. The dependencies were encouraging for use as a detector. The culmination of the work was the fourth manuscript, which presented the fabrication of a 1D array SPSD, which demonstrated the accurate measurement of small field profiles and output factors.