Thermoluminescence studies of polycrystalline CaSiO3 pellets for photons and particle therapy beams

Abstract

In this work, pellets of CaSiO3 have been produced for investigation as gamma radiation, proton, and carbon ions detector. They were then irradiated to gamma radiation using 137Cs and 60Co sources. Furthermore, pellets of CaSiO3 were exposed to 160 MeV proton and 290 MeV/n carbon ion beam from an upper synchrotron. Thermoluminescence (TL) responses of these pellets presented the same prominent peak at about 170 °C, and two possible high-temperature peaks at 270 and 320 °C when irradiated to gamma, proton, and carbon ion beam. Dose-response curve, minimum detectable dose (MDD), energy dependence, and dependence on the dose rate when irradiated with gamma radiation were evaluated in this material. Linear dose-response curves for proton and carbon ion irradiation have been compared to that of the gamma dose-response. In this way, the dose read out in Harshaw TL reader presented a good agreement with doses found using ion chamber in the case of proton beams and slightly less in the case of carbon beam due to the LET dependency. Furthermore, relative efficiencies of CaSiO3 for beam irradiation of proton and carbon ion display no dependence in the analyzed particle doses range.