Variation in the calibrated response of LiF, Al2O3, and silicon dosimeters when used for in-phantom measurements of source photons with energies between 30 KeV AND 300 KeV.

The MCNP5 radiation transport code was used to quantify changes in the absorbed dose conversion factor for LiF, Al2O3, and silicon-based electronic dosimeters calibrated in-air using standard techniques and summarily used to measure absorbed dose to water when placed in a water phantom. A mono-energetic photon source was modeled at energies between 30 keV and 300 keV for a point-source placed at the center of a water phantom, a point-source placed at the surface of the phantom, and for a 10-cm radial field geometry. Dosimetric calculations were obtained for water, LiF, Al2O3, and silicon at depths of 0.2 cm and 10 cm from the source. These results were achieved using the MCNP5 *FMESH photon energy-fluence tally, which was coupled with the appropriate DE/DF card for each dosimetric material studied to convert energy-fluence into the absorbed dose. The dosimeter's absorbed dose conversion factor was calculated as a ratio of the absorbed dose to water to that of the dosimeter measured at a specified phantom depth. The dosimeter's calibration value also was obtained. Based on these results, the absorbed dose conversion factor for a LiF dosimeter was found to deviate from its calibration value by up to 9%, an Al2O3 dosimeter by 43%, and a silicon dosimeter by 61%. These data therefore can be used to obtain LiF, Al2O3, and silicon dosimeter correction factors for mono-energetic and poly-energetic sources at measurement depths up to 10 cm under the irradiation geometries investigated herein.