The study of new calibration features in the Harshaw TLD system

The Harshaw TLD system has three key calibration procedures: the Reader, the Dosemeter and the Algorithm. These functions must be properly calibrated for the system to achieve the optimum results. For the conventional reader and dosemeter calibration, Harshaw TLD recommends a pre-fade and a post-fade of 24-48 h when calibrating the system for LiF:Mg,Ti type dosemeter. It is also recommended that keeping the fade time consistent is important to maintain the quality of the system performance. In recent years, new calibration features have been introduced into the Harshaw TLD models 6600 and 8800 operating systems. These new features are Auto Calibration, Auto QC and Auto Blank, and they give the user the ability to set up the clear-expose-read process to be performed automatically in a sequence for each dosemeter. This saves processing time and keeps the fade time the same. However, since the fade time is near zero, will it affect the TLD system calibration factors? What should the user expect? This paper presents a study of the effect of Auto Calibration/Auto QC to the TLD operation.