There is an Open Access version for this licensed article that can be read free of charge and without license restrictions. The content of the Open Access version may differ from that of the licensed version.
Pricing information
Please choose your delivery country and your customer group
Sherical phantoms of 30 cm diameter, made from materials appropriate to simulate the radiological properties of the ICRU sphere, will be needed for experimental tests of computed dose equivalent in the sphere, as an aid in calibration procedures and for special purposes such as the comparison between H'(d) and Hp(d). For photons, various existing water- or muscle-equivalent materials, reviewed in this paper, have attenuation and scattering properties close to those required to simulate the ICRU sphere material. The necessary condition is that the linear interaction coefficients, rather than the mass related interaction coefficients and the density, approximate those of the ICRU sphere material. For electrons, the two critical parameters are (i) the product of density and (Z/Ar)eff and (ii) the quotient of (Z2/Ar)eff and (Z/Ar)eff.