A comparative study of microdosimetric properties of x-rays, gamma-rays, and beta-rays.

The objective of this study was the computation of microdosimetric functions and quantities for sparsely ionizing radiations. The calculations are performed on simulated electron tracks generated by Monte-Carlo techniques. Ten different radiations of biomedical interest are considered. The comparison of radiation qualities shows marked differences between these sparsely ionizing radiations. The microdosimetric date are represented graphically for use in radiation biology and in clinical applications.