A new quartz for 𝛾-transfer calibration of radiation sources

Quartz grains extracted from aeolian sand (LexCal2014) are tested for suitability as transfer material for radiation source calibration. After thermal pre-treatment, this quartz exhibits luminescence and dose-response properties which appear appropriate for transfer calibration purposes with little dependence of recovered β-dose on preheat temperature in the single aliquot (SAR) procedure and satisfying performance in β-dose recovery (0.98−1.00 given/measured β-dose for various experiments). Additional support is obtained by SARA and interpolation procedures, where OSL-data from γ-dosed LexCal2014 is interpolated on data obtained for zeroed LexCal2014 quartz, which is β-irradiated by the source to be calibrated. Initial results on fine-grain material agree with the coarse grain results presented.

The γ-dose of 3.00 ± 0.07 Gy is administered in a scatter-free geometry at the IAEA/WHO Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL) of the Helmholtz Zentrum München, with absorbed dose calculations obtained by Monte Carlo simulations.