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Title: Mixed field dosimetry using focused and unfocused laser heating of thermoluminescent materials

Thesis/Dissertation ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/188647· OSTI ID:188647
 [1]
  1. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

The incidents at the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl have triggered the need for better personnel dosimetry methods in mixed radiation fields. This thesis presents a detailed computational study of a new method for mixed radiation field dosimetry using single-element TL dosimeters with pulsed laser heating schemes. The main objective of this study was to obtain an optimum heating scheme so that the depth-dose distribution in a thick TL dosimeter could be accurately determined. The major parts of the study include: (a) heat conduction calculations for TL dosimeters with various heating schemes, (b) glow curve calculations for TL dosimeters based on a first-order kinetic model, (c) unfolding of the depth-dose distribution based on the glow curve data, and (d) estimation of shallow and deep doses from the unfolded depth-dose distribution. Two optimum heating schemes were obtained in this study. The first one was obtained for a focused laser beam, and the second one was obtained for a uniform laser beam. Both heating schemes consist of two processes: top surface heating and bottom surface heating, and each process in turn consists of a sequence of laser pulses with various heating durations and power levels. Compared to the ``true`` depth-dose distribution obtained using Monte Carlo transport code EGS4, relative errors associated with the shallow and deep doses obtained from the unfolded depth-dose distributions are 5% and 25%, respectively, for the focused laser beam, and 15% in both doses for the uniform laser beam. 74 refs., 148 figs.

Research Organization:
Georgia Inst. of Tech., Atlanta, GA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
FG05-93ER75879
OSTI ID:
188647
Report Number(s):
DOE/ER/75879-T2; ON: DE96005831; TRN: 96:006764
Resource Relation:
Other Information: TH: Thesis (Ph.D.); PBD: Mar 1994
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English