Short Communication Potential application of pure silica optical flat fibers for radiation therapy dosimetry A. Alawiah a,n , S. Bauk b , H.A. Abdul-Rashid c , W. Gieszczyk d , S. Hashim e , G.A. Mahdiraji f , N. Tamchek g , D.A. Bradley h,i a Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Multimedia University, 75450 Malacca, Malaysia b Physics Section, School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia c Faculty of Engineering, Multimedia University, 20100 Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia d Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342 Krakow, Poland e Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia f Photonics Research Group, Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia g Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia h Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom i Department of Physics, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia HIGHLIGHTS  TL intensity (I m ) is 1.5 times higher for 6 MeV electron than 6 MV photons beams.  The T m is not affected by the type of irradiation used at the constant dose.  The FFs displayed a supralinear response from 2 Gy up to 10.0 Gy.  The sensitivity of FFs to electrons is consistently higher than photons. article info Article history: Received 28 July 2013 Accepted 6 June 2014 Available online 16 June 2014 Keywords: Thermoluminescence Flat fiber Pure silica Glow curve Kinetic parameters Dose response abstract Pure silica optical flat fibers (FF) have been proposed as the basis for a novel radiation sensor by the measurement of the thermoluminescence (TL) produced. In this paper the TL performance of the FFs were studied. Using a linear accelerator (LINAC) delivering doses in the range 0.2–10.0 Gy, the TL dosimetric glow curves of the FFs were studied with respect to 6 MeV electron and 6 MV photon beams. When exposed to 6 MeV electron irradiation, the pure silica FFs displayed a supralinear response starting from 2 Gy up to 10.0 Gy. While for 6 MV photon irradiation, the FFs shows linear characteristic ðf ðDÞ¼ 1Þ nearly up to 2 Gy. The TL intensity (I m ) of the main peak of FFs is 1.5 times higher for 6 MeV electron beams than for 6 MV photon beams. The maximum peak temperature (T m ) it is not affected by the type of irradiation used at the same dose while the maximum TL intensity (I m ) was found to be dependent on the type of radiation used. Overall results indicate that the pure silica FFs can be used as radiation sensors in the high-dose therapy dosimetry. & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The pure silica (SiO 2 ) optical fiber has attracted much attention as a radiation sensor in dosimery. In a wider context, the potential of doped SiO 2 optical fibers in measuring photon and charged particle beams can be found in a number of reports (Ong et al., 2009; Hashim et al., 2009). Ge-doped fibers have also been demonstrated to offer excellent TL yield and spatial resolution, sufficient for use in high dose gradient situations as in Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) (Noor et al., 2011). The same optical fibers also demonstrated reusability and low residual signal and fading (Abdul Rahman et al., 2010). Present investigation focuses on the TL response of pure silica FFs to determine the TL characteristics from the respective TL glow curves. The responses of these materials to photon and electron doses in the therapeutic energy and dose ranges were compared with that of TLD-100 (LiF:Mg,Ti). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/radphyschem Radiation Physics and Chemistry http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2014.06.006 0969-806X/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author. E-mail address: alawiahofd@gmail.com (A. Alawiah). Radiation Physics and Chemistry 106 (2015) 73–76