Fundamentals of gel dosimeters

Abstract

Fundamental chemical and physical phenomena that occur in Fricke gel dosimeters, polymer gel dosimeters, micelle gel dosimeters and genipin gel dosimeters are discussed. Fricke gel dosimeters are effective even though their radiation sensitivity depends on oxygen concentration. Oxygen contamination can cause severe problems in polymer gel dosimeters, even when THPC is used. Oxygen leakage must be prevented between manufacturing and irradiation of polymer gels, and internal calibration methods should be used so that contamination problems can be detected. Micelle gel dosimeters are promising due to their favourable diffusion properties. The introduction of micelles to gel dosimetry may open up new areas of dosimetry research wherein a range of water-insoluble radiochromic materials can be explored as reporter molecules.