Spectrometry of pulsed photon radiation

Abstract

The energy distribution (spectrum) of pulsed photon radiation can hardly be measured using active devices, therefore, a thermoluminescence detector (TLD)-based few-channel spectrometer is used in combination with a Bayesian data analysis to help resolve this problem. The spectrometer consists of 30 TLD layers interspaced by absorbers made of plastics and metals with increasing atomic numbers and thickness. Thus, the main idea behind the device is the deeper the radiation penetrates—the higher the radiation’s energy when the radiation impinges perpendicular to the front of the spectrometer. From the doses measured in the TLD layers and from further prior available information, the photon spectrum is deduced using a Bayesian data analysis leading to absolute spectra and doses including their uncertainties and coverage intervals. This spectrometer was successfully used in two different scenarios, i.e. for the spectrometry of the radiation field two different industrial type open beam pulsed x-ray generators and secondly in three different radiation fields of a medical accelerator.