Response of HD-V2 radiochromic film to argon ions* *Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. U1930107 and 11827807) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grants Nos. XDA25030100, XDA25010000, and XDB16010200).

Abstract

A two-dimensional dose detector for ion beam is required in many high energy density physics experiments. As a solid detector, the GAFChromic film offers a good spatial resolution and dosimetric accuracy. For an absolute dose measurement, the relative effectiveness, which represents the darkening efficiency of the film to a radiation source, needs to be taken into consideration. In this contribution, the dose-response of HD-V2 to argon ions is presented for the first time. The calibration was taken over the dose range of 65 Gy–660 Gy with 8-keV argon ions. The response of net optical density is from 0.01 to 0.05. Triple-color dose-response functions are derived. The relative effectiveness for the argon ion beams is about 5%, much lower than that of protons and carbon ions. To explain this effect, the inactivation probability based on track theory of ion bombardment is proposed. Furthermore, a theoretical prediction of the relative effectiveness for single ion is presented, showing the dependence of the darkening efficiency on the atomic number and the incident energy of ions.