Phenothiazine UVA dosimeter: characteristics and performance

Abstract

This paper overviews the characteristics of a phenothiazine-mylar dosimeter which can be used as an effective solar UVA exposure assessment tool. This dosimeter is sensitive to UVA wavelengths (320-400 nm); and its performance has been characterized in a series of tests such as (a) temperature stability of response, (b) impact of long term storage, (c) angular response, (d) spectral response and (e) UVA exposure response (dose-response). There is no effect of long term storage post exposure and no effect of temperature up to approximately 35o. For angles up to 70o, the cosine error of the normalized UVA is less than approximately 0.1. There is a strong and positive correlation (R > 0.98) between the ambient UVA exposures measured instrumentally and the UVA dosimeter exposures. These characterizations have confirmed the reliability and reproducibility of a phenothiazine-mylar combined dosimeter as an effective solar UVA exposure tool for field based studies of the UVA exposures to population groups.