Potential dosemeter for quantifying biologically effective blue light exposures

Abstract

This paper reports on the development of a blue light (VISBL) dosimeter. The VISBL dosimeter is based on the combination of polysulfone and phenothiazine as a potential VISBL dosimeter for population studies of exposures related to the blue light hazard. This research found that this combination of photosensitive chromophores reacts to both ultraviolet and visible wavelengths of the solar spectrum. Further to this, the majority of the ultraviolet wavelengths below 380 nm can be filtered out with the use of a low pass filter. It was found that a large change in optical absorbance at 437 nm occurred when the dosimeter was employed to quantify the solar blue light hazard exposures. Preliminary results indicate that this dosimeter saturates relatively slowly and is able to measure exposures equivalent to more than 1200 kJ/m2 of blue light hazard weighted solar radiation.