Optically stimulated luminescence from Al2O3:C irradiated with 10–60 MeV protons

We investigated the potential use of Al2O3:C for medical proton dosimetry. Detector crystals coupled to fiber-optic cables were irradiated in proton beams with energies from 10 to 60 MeV. The key finding is that the initial intensity of the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) signal is energy independent for small detectors (<0.5 mm) and relatively small doses (<0.3 Gy). This feature is related to the supralinearity of the detectors dose–response to low linear energy transfer (LET) radiation. The results show that our system can be used in medical proton dosimetry without LET-dependent correction factors in the dose and energy interval investigated.