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‫المرحلة التمهيدية للعلوم الطبية‬

‫الجرعة االشعاعية وكواشف اإلشعاع‬

‫أ‪ .‬العباس أحمد انديشة‬

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Quantities and units characterizing ionizing radiation

• Based on the mean specific (transmitted) energy, we can define absorbed dose: the
amount of energy absorbed in tissue per unit mass. Unit JKg -1 ( Gray Gy ).

d
D
dm
• Absorbed dose is measured in units of Gray . The older unit is rad (1 gray = 100 rad).
• It is important to remember that there is no absorbed dose as such; we must always relate it
to a specific environment (for water, soft tissue, air, a specific phantom, etc.).
• The dose describes the transfer of energy over a certain period of time is expressed
by the dose rate (it can also be called
about the batch rate):  dD
D
dt
3 Quantities and units characterizing ionizing radiation

• X-ray radiation or g that passes through air can be

quantified using exposure, it is given by the ratio
𝑑𝑄
𝑋 = ,
𝑑𝑚
where Q is the total negative (or positive) charge created in a
small volume of air of mass m . The unit of exposure is the
coulomb per kilogram (C.kg -1 ). An older unit of exposure
is the Roentgen (R):
1 R = 2.58.10 -4 C.kg -1
• Exposure is sometimes referred to as absorbed dose in air, and the
approximate relationship (equivalence) 1 R = 1 rad was previously
popular.
• From the exposure, a measure of the intensity of X-rays or
gamma rays is derived, including a time factor - the
exposure rate - defined as coulomb per kilogram per
second (C.kg -1 .s -1 ).
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Quantities and units for estimating biological risk

• Equivalent Dose De (also H ) expresses the relative biological effectiveness of

radiation.
• It is given by the product of the radiation dose and the quality factor (QF) .
• QF is used to assess the risk of individual types of radiation to humans . The dose
equivalent has the dimension J.kg -1 .
• The unit is sievert (Sv ). 1 Sv = 100 rem
• The radiation weighting factor (identical to the quality factor) is necessary because
some types of radiation are more dangerous than others: the value 1 applies to
gamma and X-ray radiation (both external and internal exposure), 0 for alpha
(external), 20 for alpha (internal).
5 Quantities and units for estimating biological risk

Effective dose :

D = ABSORBED DOSE
E  wT wR D w T = tissue weighting factor
w R = radiation weighting factor (= QF)

• The higher the absorbed dose (absorbed energy), the higher the risk.
• A tissue weighting factor is necessary because different tissues have different radiosensitivity .
• The unit is the Sv sievert .
• The risk of some type of damage (i.e. the probability of its occurrence) is associated with each mSv ,
e.g. for the development of leukemia it is 2 per million per mSv .
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Radiosensitivity (for carcinogenesis, mutagenesis): tissue weighting
factor
 7 Radiation Detectors
Because we generally cannot sense the presence of
radioactivity, But, we need to know:
• Is ionizing radiation present?
• Are we receiving dose from ionizing radiation?
• How much dose have we received?
• Is there contamination present?
Electronic equipment (Dosimeters) has been developed to
detect ionizing radiation (both particles and photons) . They
are used to measure absorbed doses in patients or employees
and for many other purposes.
The main function of a detector is to change the energy of
ionizing radiation into electrical pulses that
can be recorded. We will focus on some selected types of
detectors used in medicine today:
A. Gas-filled detectors
B. Thermoluminescence
C. Semiconductor
D. Scintillation Detectors
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Gas-filled detectors

Ionization chambers: utilize the ability of ionizing radiation to

create ions along its path. The presence of ions increases the
electrical conductivity of the gas .
The charge created is proportional to the dose, the magnitude of
the current and the dose rate . The ions disappear by
recombination and the sensor can be reused.
The electrode system (isolated from the environment or placed in
the air) is called an ionization chamber . We either measure only
the current, proportional to the radiation intensity (static
chambers), or we count the voltage pulses corresponding to the
passage of individual particles through the chamber (impulse
chambers). The so-called thimble chambers are common, which
consist of an insulating cap, air enclosed in it and a positively
charged electrode. Personal dosimeters are also manufactured
on the basis of ionization chambers.
 9 Geiger-Müller Detectors

A Geiger -Müller (GM) counter consists of a GM tube, a high-voltage DC

source, and an electronic pulse counter. The GM tube is a hollow cylinder
with a metallic inner surface. This metallic layer is the cathode. The
central wire is the positively charged anode.
The Geiger-Müller counter is based on gas ionization, but the voltage
across the electrodes is such that even a single photon or particle of
ionizing radiation creates enough ions to be detected.
The voltage between the electrodes is so high that even secondary ions
they can ionize neutral molecules and the so-called multiplication or
avalanche effect occurs .
An "avalanche" of ions hitting one of the electrodes is registered as a
short voltage pulse. The number of pulses indicates the number of
photons or particles. However, the size of the pulse does not depend on
the photon energy , and therefore this GM cannot be used to measure the
energy of particles (it is a radiation detector, not a dosimetric sensor).
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Ionization Chamber

Geiger Counters

The GM tube is usually filled with argon with 10% quencher (e.g. ethanol vapor). The quencher stops the process of
ion multiplication and thus prevents the formation of a permanent electrical discharge between the anode and
cathode. The duration of avalanche ionization is very short. However, during this time the tube is unable to respond to
another particle of ionizing radiation.
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Geiger Counters vs Ionization Chamber

Feature Geiger-Müller Detector Ionization Chamber

Measures current pulse caused by
Operating Principle avalanche ionization
Measures current caused by ion pairs

Wide range of radiation types (alpha, Limited detection range (mostly alpha &
Detection Range beta, gamma) beta)
Efficiency High efficiency Lower efficiency
Speed Fast response time Slower response time
Dead Time Long dead time (recovery time) Short dead time
Complexity Simpler design More complex design
Cost Relatively inexpensive More expensive
Medical physics applications (e.g., X-ray
Applications Portable radiation monitors
dosimetry)
12 Thermoluminescence (TLD)
Based on the thermoluminescence of some inorganic crystals, e.g. lithium
fluoride (+Mg, Ti), or calcium fluoride (+ Mn ). Additive activators are listed in
brackets.

Ionizing radiation excits some electrons into stable excited states (electron
traps), where they have higher energy than in the ground state, but cannot de-
excite .
After heating the substance (supplying energy), the electrons first reach the
normal excited state, from where they then return to the ground state, which is
accompanied by the emission of visible light. The intensity of this light is
proportional to the absorbed dose.
Most medical personal dosimeters today are of this type. Their advantage is that
their chemical composition is close to that of living tissue. They can also be
manufactured as rings for measuring absorbed dose in the fingers, for example
during interventional radiological procedures. They are also placed on the skin
of patients for measuring input doses.
 13 Scintillation Detectors
• Scintillation counters are optoelectronic devices (used in gamma cameras)
that are both detectors and sensors - they measure both the number of
individual photons or particles and their energy.
• A scintillation counter consists of a scintillator, a photomultiplier, and an
electronic part – a high voltage source and a pulse counter.
• A scintillator is a substance that scintillates (produces small flashes of visible
light) after absorbing the energy of ionizing radiation. The light is produced
by de-excitation and recombination processes.
• The most widely used scintillators are: sodium iodide crystals activated with
traces of thallium – NaI ( Tl ), but many different types of scintillators are
used in practice – anthracene.
• The intensity and duration of the crystal's light response decreases with
temperature.
• The scintillator is in a light-tight and waterproof case with one side
transparent, so that the photons produced can reach a photomultiplier ,
which equipped with photodiodes.
 14 Scintillation Detectors

• Photons strike a photocathode – a very thin layer of metal with a low

electron binding energy.
• Electrons ejected from the cathode are attracted and accelerated by
the nearest positively charged electrode, the first dynode .

• The dynos form a cascade of, for example, ten electrodes. On average,
six secondary electrons are ejected with each electron impact. These
electrons are attracted to the next dynode, where the process is
repeated. The resulting voltage pulses are calculated in the electronic
part of the device.
• A voltage of 100-200 V is maintained between the individual
dynodes and the voltage pulse at the output of the photomultiplier is
directly proportional to the energy of the absorbed ionizing
radiation. In conventional detectors, the number of dynodes is 8-15,
and the gain is 107 − 108 .
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Photopeak
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Semiconductor Detectors
Ionizing radiation causes the formation of electron-hole pairs,
thereby increasing the number of electrons in the conduction band of
semiconductors (internal photoeffect) and thus increasing their
electrical conductivity.
The formation of the mentioned pair requires about 3 eV of energy,
which is about ten times less than the energy required to form an ion
pair in a gas. We occasionally encounter semiconductor dosimeters as
miniaturized probes that are inserted into body cavities. They directly
measure the dose absorbed by the patient.

Semiconductor detectors are constructed on the basis of silicon,

germanium (HPGe). Silicon detectors allow spectral analysis (energy
spectrum) and identification of various types of radiation, including
heavy ions. However, their stability must be ensured by liquid
nitrogen.
They are also used to make personal dosimeters , which, unlike film or
thermoluminescence dosimeters, allow continuous assessment of
absorbed dose.