Response of dosemeters in the radiation field generated by a TW-class laser system

State-of-the-art laser systems are able to generate ionising radiation of significantly high energies by focusing ultra-short and intense pulses onto targets. Thus, measures ensuring the radiation protection of both working personnel and the general public are required. However, commercially available dosemeters are primarily designed for measurement in continuous fields. Therefore, it is important to explore their response to very short pulses. In this study, the responses of dosemeters in a radiation field generated by iodine high-power and Ti:Sapphire laser systems are examined in proton and electron acceleration experiments. Within these experiments, electron bunches of femtosecond pulse duration and 100-MeV energy and proton bunches with sub-nanosecond pulse duration and energy of several megaelectronvolts were generated in single-shot regimes. Responses of typical detectors (TLD, films and electronic personal dosemeter) were analysed and compared. Further, a first attempt was carried out to characterise the radiation field generated by TW-class laser systems.

Space distribution of charge density of ions emitted by (CH₂)_n plasma at a time of 800 ns after the laser-target interaction. The labels indicate the directions of observation of ion currents with the use of ion collectors positioned at a distance of 40 cm from the target.

¹Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Slovance 2, Prague 8, Prague, Czech Republic
²National Personal Dosimetry Service, Na Truhlářce 39/64, Prague 8, Prague, Czech Republic