State of art: Optically stimulated luminescence dosimetry – Frontiers of future research

Since the commercial adoption of the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) technique in dosimetry, almost 20 years ago, we have seen major advances in the deployment of OSL dosimeters in different areas, including personal, medical, and space dosimetry. The objective of this paper is to provide a critical overlook at the OSL technique from three different points of view: strengths, challenges and opportunities. We discuss factors that made the OSL technique successful: its simplicity, accuracy, wide dynamic range of measured dose, ease for automation, re-read capability, ability to perform imaging, and the availability of diverse instruments and materials. We look into problems that were overcome and others that remain in several areas of new applications into which OSL has expanded in the past 10 years, such as medical, space, neutron and accident dosimetry. Finally, we discuss unexplored possibilities, new driving forces, and open questions. We hope the broad overview presented here will encourage more discussion and stimulate the research that will advance our fundamental understanding of the OSL process. - Highlights: • Critical overlook of the OSL technique is presented. • Factors that made the OSL technique successful are discussed. • New applications in medical, space and accident dosimetry are discussed. • Unexplored possibilities, new driving forces, and open questions are presented