Sand as thermoluminescent dosimeter to therapeutic doses

This work describes the characteristic thermoluminiscent of sand coming from Cove？as beaches, for its use as therapeutic dose dosimeter. The selected samples, annealed at 400oC during 1 hour, were irradiated to different doses using an unit of 60Co Theratron 780C in air to ambient temperature. The reading was carried out in a Harshaw TLD 4500. The main dosimetric properties of the material (glow curve, response reproducibility, reutilization, linearity and thermal decay) have been studied in detail. The glow curve of the sand samples presents a peaks TL at about 145？C. The results show that the material has a linear response to the dose from 50 cGy until 1000 cGy. The studied sand samples can be used as thermoluminescent dosimeters for applications in different areas. The importance of this work is that the sand is a natural substance available in large quantities, low cost and can be used in clinical physics to evaluate the dose received by the patient during medical treatment