Experimental and calculated effectiveness of a radiochromic dye film to stopping 21 MeV 7Li and 64 MeV 16O ions

Relative radiation effectiveness, RE, of 21 MeV ⁷Li and 64 MeV ¹⁶O ions being completely stopped in a tissue equivalent film dose meter has been measured as a function of penetration depth and energy, and the results have been compared with calculations based on a δ-ray theory for heavy charged particles developed by Katz et al. The experiment was designed to test calculations particularly in the Bragg-peak region of the slowing down particles where significant deviation between theory and experiment was found. Fitting of the characteristic D₃₇ dose and the size of the radiation sensitive element in the detector, which are important parameters in the theoretical model, does not improve the overall correlation between theory and experiment. It is concluded that disagreement between theoretical and experimental RE-values below 1.5 MeV/amu is partly due to lack of equivalence between the δ-ray spectrum and the slowing down spectrum of electrons from low-LET radiation, and partly from approximations in the calculated distribution of energy deposition of the δ-rays.