Study of Gafchromic (registered) EBT film response over a large dose range

Presently Gafchromic EBT films are widely used for relative dose verification in standard radiation therapy using high-energy photons, inclusive IMRT. The use of films for dosimetry in medical ion beams is more complicated due to the strongly inhomogeneous dose deposition by ions on microscopic level. Track structure models, presently used to describe dosimeter response as a function of the ion field properties, are based on input information which can be obtained from the film response in photon beams. We therefore studied the performance of Gafchromic EBT films, ancestors of currently available EBT2 films, in 60Co photon beams. The dose-response curve was measured from 7.5 x 10-2 Gy to 3 x 104 Gy. The dynamic range, linearity and dose rate dependence of this calibration curve were studied. A high saturation dose of 3 x 103 Gy, and thus a large dynamic range, was observed. No signs of supralinearity and bleaching due to radiation were found. No dependence of the response on the dose rate at high dose rates and high doses was found. All those properties justify the use of simplified models of the film response to ions. Furthermore, fits of the calibration data by predictions of different models for signal creation mechanism of dosimetric materials were performed. The best description was found for the recently published gamma-distributed single-hit model which takes into account different sizes of the active centres. (note)