Analysis of a discrepancy in electron–beam dose comparison between chemical dosimeters and a calorimeter

A 2.1% discrepancy was reported from an electron-beam dose comparison between liquid chemical dosimeters and a water calorimeter. Two methods, depth–dose measurement in a sandwich phantom and the use of a semiempirical depth–dose code EDMULT, were used to analyze the depth-dose distribution in the dosimeters and the calorimeter and to calculate their dose ratio. Results have shown that the discrepancy can be explained by the difference in the effective detection volume.