Using radiation damage to obtain a large quantity of matched-sensitivity thermoluminescent dosimeters

We used radiation damage to reduce the sensitivity of thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) to match that of the working stock in our Dosimetry Laboratory. The mean sensitivity of the TLDs we altered fell within 1% of the stock mean and the distribution we obtained was much narrower than the +/- 10% limits on the working stock. By rejecting 1.5% of the test material, limits of +/- 5% could be established, thereby improving the precision of dosimetry measurements. The shapes of glow curves after irradiation remained unchanged. Our phototransferred thermoluminescence dose-reestimation procedure was still viable; however, the necessity for removing the TLDs' prior dose history became apparent, and we describe a procedure to handle this problem.