Perturbation corrections for flat and thimble-type cylindrical standard ionization chambers for 60Co gamma rays: Monte Carlo calculations

The use of an ionization chamber for absorbed dose determinations in a medium requires one to take into account perturbation corrections due to the presence of the chamber cavity in the medium. Evaluation of these corrections for perturbation and their variation with depth in the medium has been performed for a flat cylindrical and a cylindrical (thimble-type) ionization chamber placed in a graphite phantom irradiated by a 60Co gamma beam using Monte Carlo calculations (EGS4 system with correlated sampling variance reduction technique). The results of these calculations agree with published experimental and theoretical data to better than 0.18%, with a statistical uncertainty of less than 0.17%.