Measurements of radiation absorbed dose by radiation acoustic effect

When solid material is irradiated by modulated X-ray beam, synchronizing thermal energy is generated depending on absorbed energy. Then, the material or a coupling gas in contact with the material is expanded, and these cause fluctuation of pressure. We take notice of these phenomena, and try to develop a new method (RA: Radiation Acoustic) of measuring absorbed dose based on radiation acoustic effect. This method is highly sensitive and of real time measurement capability. In this paper, various characteristics of RA signal are described with the results of simulation and experiments. Consequently, it is expected that this new method is quite promising for the measurement of low absorbed dose in the region of low X-ray energy comparing the conventional calorimetric method.