Dosimetric characterization of BeO in standard beams of conventional diagnostic radiology, mammography and computed tomography, by the thermoluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence techniques

The ionizing radiation is widely used in several areas in industry and medicine. In the field of medicine, the ionizing radiation is used both for therapeutic purposes and for diagnostic purposes, thus covering a wide range of doses of different types of radiation. To certify that the goal of practice is being achieved detailed studies of detectors and devices that respond to different types of radiation are required. In this work, a study of dosimetric characteristics of BeO samples was performed in standard beams of conventional diagnostic radiology, mammography and computed tomography, using the techniques of thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), and proposing a suitable system for its use in beam dosimetry. The main results obtained were: high sensitivity to white light during the irradiation, good reproducibility of responses TL and OSL (coefficients of variation of less than 5%), and kinetics parameters corresponding to the values obtained in all of the tested methods, without fading within the observed period for both techniques. The dosimetric characteristics obtained in this work show the possibility of application of BeO samples for dosimetry of X radiation, considering the tested dose interval, by the TL and OSL techniques. Thus, the BeO samples presented potential use for dosimetry of conventional diagnostic radiology, mammography and computed tomography beams. (author)