Characterisation of energy response of Al2O3:C optically stimulated luminescent dosemeters (OSLDs) using cavity theory

Aluminium oxide (Al2O3:C) is a common material used in optically stimulated luminescent dosemeters (OSLDs). OSLDs have a known energy dependence, which can impact on the accuracy of dose measurements, especially for lower photon energies, where the dosemeter can overrespond by a factor of 3–4. The purpose of this work was to characterise the response of Al2O3:C using cavity theory and to evaluate the applicability of this approach for polyenergetic photon beams. The cavity theory energy response showed good agreement (within 2 %) with the corresponding measured values. A comparison with measured values reported in the literature for low-energy polyenergetic spectra showed more varied agreement (within 6 % on average). The discrepancy between these results is attributed to differences in the raw photon energy spectra used to calculate the energy response. Analysis of the impact of the photon energy spectra versus the mean photon energy showed improved accuracy if the energy response was determined using the entire photon spectrum rather than the mean photon energy. If not accounted for, the overresponse due to photon energy could introduce substantial inaccuracy in dose measurement using OSLDs, and the results of this study indicate that cavity theory may be used to determine the response with reasonable accuracy.