Further characteristics important in the operation of ceramic BeO TLD.

Abstract

There is now a considerable volume of published research dealing with ceramic BeO--TLD (Crase and Gammage, 1975; Yamashita et al., 1974; Scarpa et al., 1971). Its high sensitivity to radiation (1 mR), cheapness, commercial availability, non-toxicity, chemical stability, an atomic number of near tissue equivalence, and resistance to thermal fading, suggest that it should, by now, have found widespread acceptance as a TLD phosphor. It has not. There are only a small handful of reports dealing with the practical application of this type of dosimeter (Puite et al., 1974; Gammage and Haywood, 1976; Gesell et al., 1975). It seems wise, therefore, to look at the phosphor more closely and to focus on characteristics likely to cause problems under real operating conditions, especially those which are acting as a deterrent to its widespread acceptance. Operational characteristics were studied and the results are discussed.