Microdosimetry Using a Recombination Chamber: Method and Applications

An extended test and a discussion is presented of a method proposed recently to determine the dose relative to restricted LET distributions by analysis of a saturation curve of a recombination chamber. Since the shape of the saturation curve depends on initial recombination of ions, the distributions obtained concern volumes with dimensions of about 70 nm. It was found that the method enables an accurate separation of the low LET fraction of the absorbed dose. The distributions for the high LET fraction, although crude, are reliable and might be useful in radiation protection, especially for calculation of the radiation quality factor.