Calibration of the Ferrous Sulphate Dosimeter by Ionometric and Calorimetric Methods

Abstract

THE ferrous sulphate dosimetric system was proposed in 1927 (ref. 1) and has since been extensively investigated and applied in a number of dose estimation problems. Shalek et al.² showed that reliable and precise calibration factors ($G_{{\text{Fe}}^{\text{++}}\text{→}{\text{Fe}}^{\text{+++}}}$ values) have not been well established over a wide range of radiation energies. Individuals or groups of workers have in the past given $G_{{\text{Fe}}^{\text{++}}\text{→}{\text{Fe}}^{\text{+++}}}$ values for only a few radiation energies with rather poor agreement for the low-energy X-rays; β-rays have also received insufficient coverage in the literature. In the work described here, dosimetric calibrations have been carried out by ionometric, particle counting, and microcalorimetric methods, and $G_{{\text{Fe}}^{\text{++}}\text{→}{\text{Fe}}^{\text{+++}}}$ values established with a reasonable degree of accuracy from tritium β-rays to 14 MeV X-rays.