Comparative study on measurements of radiochromic films using portable colorimeters

Abstract

The recently proposed method for on-site radiation dosimetry by a combination of radiochromic film and portable colorimeter was tested for six combinations of two popular Gafchromic films (EBT3 and EBT-XD) and three commercially available portable colorimeters (nix pro2, nix spectro2 and Spectro1 Pro; abbreviated to “NixP”, “NixS” and “SpoP”, respectively). EBT3 and EBT-XD were irradiated with X-rays (160 kV, 6.3 mA) up to 40 Gy and 80 Gy, respectively, and the radiation-induced color levels of RGB and CMYK components were measured with the three colorimeters. Angle dependence was examined by reading at 15° intervals. As a result, it was judged that all combinations would work effectively under certain irradiation conditions. NixP and NixS were applicable to a wider dose range for both films, while SpoP fit a lower dose range. On the other hand, SpoP showed an advantageous feature of no angular dependence in reading films, while NixP and NixS showed significant angle-dependent changes. These differences are considered to be attributable to the different geometries of LED light emission, which came from all directions (360°) in SpoP, 4 directions in NixP, and 8 directions in NixS. These findings are expected to expand the applicability of the novel method to various occasions of on-site dosimetry.