Linear Energy Transfer-FFBA0E69

This Report deals with radiation quality. As dealt with in the report, quality refers to those features of the spatial distribution of energy transfers that influence the effectiveness of an irradiation in producing change, when other physical factors such as total energy dissipated, absorbed dose, absorbed dose rate and absorbed dose fractionation are kept constant. The report gives particular emphasis to the description of quality in terms of linear energy transfer (LET). Report 16 includes major sections on interaction of radiation with matter, definition and concepts of LET, calculation of distributions of absorbed dose in LET, applications of LET calculations, LET in radiation protection, limitations of the LET concept, and other methods of specifying radiation quality. The report also includes appendices covering formulae for mass collision stopping power or LET; measurement of, and theoretical and experimental values for, range, total average rate of energy loss per unit path length and LET; measurement of LET distributions; distributions of ions in clusters; the mean excitation energy; and application of LET in radiation biology and chemical dosimetry.