The Ge dopant in commercially available silica optical fibres gives rise to appreciable thermoluminscence (TL), weight-for-weight offering sensitivity to MV X-rays several times that of the LiF dosimeter TLD100. The response of these fibres to UV radiation, X-rays, electrons, protons, neutrons and alpha particles, with doses from a fraction of 1Gy up to 10kGy, have stimulated further investigation of the magnitude of the TL signal for intrinsic and doped SiO fibres. We represent a consortium effort between Malaysian partners and the University of Surrey, aimed at production of silica fibres with specific TL dosimetry applications, utilizing modified chemical vapour deposition (MCVD) doped silica-glass production and fibre-pulling facilities. The work is informed by defect and dopant concentration and various production dependences including pulling parameters such as temperature, speed and tension; the fibres also provide for spatial resolutions down to <10μm, confronting many limitations faced in use of conventional (TL) dosimetry. Early results are shown for high spatial resolution (~0.1mm) single-core Ge-doped TL sensors, suited to radiotherapy applications. Preliminary results are also shown for undoped flat optical fibres of mm dimensions and Ge-B doped flat optical fibres of sub-mm dimensions, with potential for measurement of doses in medical diagnostic applications. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

A new method for the evaluation of radiotherapy 3D polymer gel dosimeters has been developed using ultrasound to assess the significant structural changes that occur following irradiation of the dosimeters. Polymer gel dosimeters were being fabricated using a monomer named 2-Hydroxyl-Ethyl-Meta-Acrylate (HEMA) with the presence of gelatine as a gelling agent. The readymade gel which is the concentration for HEMA fixed at 2, 4 and 5% would then undergo an ultrasonic evaluation to test for the propagation of sound speed through it. In the observation of relationship between the ultrasound propagation speeds as the doses increase (focusing at the cross region from overlapped beams) and concentration of monomer, the propagation speed for all the three polymer gel dosimeter phantoms still varies between 1460 to 1570 m/s which is still in the range of speed of sound for human tissue [. The ultrasonic absorption attenuation coefficient dose sensitivity for polymer gel dosimeters for 2, 4 and 5% of monomer are in the range of 0.02 to 0.6 dB which is equivalent to human tissue. As a comparison, it can be seen that gel phantoms with high concentration of monomer (5%) is more sensitive to the radiation compared to the lower (2% and 4%) concentrations. Regarding the absolute results of mechanical and acoustic properties; the copolymer-in-oil phantom is equivalent with soft tissue.

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