Retrospective dosimetry using the OSL-pre-dose effect in porcelain

We present a new routine technique for retrospective dosimetry based on the pre-dose effect in optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). The porcelain electric-power insulators in this study using conventional OSL are found to be insensitive to radiation absorbed doses below 2 Gy, if they are measured some days after irradiation. Therefore, direct measurements of the OSL-signal of these samples could not be used for assessment of accidental doses, whereas the enhanced OSL-signal after thermal activation was found to be sensitive enough to measure absorbed doses well below 2 Gy up to several years after irradiation, even as low as 0.04 Gy.