Effective use of lithium fluoride, TLD-100, at very low radiation doses

Two reasons have beren given for reluctance in using lithium fluoride, TLD-100, for measurement of very low radiation doses: inadequate sensitivity, and nonlinearity. The authors examined the selection, handling, annealing, and readout procedures for potential use of this material for low dose applications. Experiments to measure the sensitivity and linearity were conducted and are described. Two annealing techniques were evaluated. Data and associated procedures are presented which demonstrate that, using commercially available detectors and readers, doses significantly less than 1.0 millirad may be measured with reasonable consistency and accuracy