Eduardo Gardenali Yukihara (PSI): An Overview on Optically Stimulated Luminescence for Personal and Medical Dosimetry Applications

Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) has been used now for almost 25 years in personal dosimetry and its application has expanded to the fields of space and medical dosimetry. The technique relies on the light emitted by suitable phosphors when stimulated with light of appropriate wavelength. The all-optical nature of the readout and the suitable choices of stimulation wavelength, detection wavelength as well as timing provide the OSL technique with major advantages over other techniques, such as essentially no background signal and high sensitivity to ionizing radiation. In this talk we will give an overview of the OSL technique and its development, highlighting how the technique can help address new challenges in radiation therapy dosimetry. Finally, some of the new facilities for characterization of luminescence materials at the Paul Scherrer Institute will be described.