Environmental dosimetry by two-element TL system with different response to low and high LET radiation

Natural radiation especially at high altitudes is always a mixed low (electrons, photons, protons) and high (heavy ions, charged particles, neutrons) linear energy transfer (LET) field. Recently the application of thermoluminescent dosimeters has been extended to such mixed radiation field which was performed with a pair of dosimeters, having various sensitivity to low and to high LET radiations. The aim of our work was the comparative investigation of Al(2)O(3):C and CaSO(4):Tm as two highly sensitive thermoluminescent materials. The rate of relative TL efficiency for high LET irradiation to low LET exposure was about ten times higher for CaSO(4):Tm than for Al(2)O(3):C. During two kinds of environmental investigations (on-site measurements and stratospheric experiment) both CaSO(4):Tm and Al(2)O(3):C were proved to be appropriate tools for measuring environmental doses at different altitudes. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.7th European Conference on Luminescent Detectors and Transformers of Ionizing Radiation, Jul 12-17, 2009, Cracow, Polan