Absorption spectroscopy of EBT model GAFCHROMIC™ film

The introduction of radiochromic films has solved some of the problems associated with conventional 2D radiation detectors. Their high spatial resolution, low energy dependence, and near-tissue equivalence make them ideal for measurement of dose distributions in radiation fields with high dose gradients. Precise knowledge of the absorption spectra of these detectors can help to develop more suitable optical densitometers and potentially extend the use of these films to other areas such as the measurement of the radiation beam spectral information. The goal of this study is to present results of absorption spectra measurements for the new GAFCHROMIC (TM) film, EBT type, exposed to 6 MV photon beam in the dose range from 0 to 6 Gy. Spectroscopic analysis reveals that in addition to the two main absorption peaks, centered at around 583 and 635 nm, the absorption spectrum in the spectral range from 350 to 800 nm contains six more absorption bands. Comparison of the absorption spectra reveals that previous HD-810, MD-55, as well as HS GAFCHROMIC (TM) film models, have nearly the same sensitive layer base material, whereas the new EBT model, GAFCHROMIC (TM) film has a different composition of its sensitive layer. We have found that the two most prominent absorption bands in EBT model radiochromic film do not change their central wavelength position with change in a dose deposited to the film samples. (c) 2007 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.