Lithium lactate as an ESR dosimeter

The feasibility of lithium lactate (Li-lactate: CH3CH(OH)COOLi) as an electron spin resonance (ESR) dosimeter material has been studied and compared with lactose and a conventional alanine dosimeter. The ESR spectra of Li-lactate and lactose with the spectroscopic splitting g-factors of 2.0029 ± 0.0003 and 2.0043 ± 0.0003 respectively show hyperfine splitting with an intensity ratio of 1:3:3:1 and hyperfine coupling constants (A/gβ) of 1.82 ± 0.06 and 1.88 ± 0.06 mT, respectively. The radical formation efficiency (G-value), i.e. the number of free radicals per 100 eV for alanine, Li-lactate and lactose were 0.95, 1.0 and 3.0, respectively. The sensitivity of Li-lactate to γ-rays is 10 times higher than that of alanine and 0.3 of lactose. The signal stability of Li-lactate was greater than that of lactose.