Electron irradiation effects of radiochromic PCDA vesicle gel dosimeters

The gel dosimeter has the uniquely capacity in recording radiation dose distribution in three dimensions (3D), which has the specific advantages in dosimetry measurements where steep dose gradients exist. In this study, a novel radiochromic gel dosimeter was developed by dispersing nanovesicles self-assembled by 10, 12-pentacosadiynoic acid (PCDA) into the tissue equivalence gel matrix. The characteristics of radiochromic PCDA vesicle gel dosimeters were evaluated. Results indicate that these radiochromic gel dosimeters have good linear response to 1.7 MeV electron beam irradiation in the dose range of 0.32-6.36 kGy. In addition, the radiochromic gel dosimeters overcome the limitations of the existing gel dosimeters such as diffusion effect, post-radiation effect, and poor forming ability. Hence, the radiochromic PCDA vesicle gel dosimeters developed could be generally applied to 3D dose distribution measurement with optical readout. (authors)