Large-scale triage after major radiological events, such as nuclear reactor accidents, requires a method of ionizing radiation dose estimation called retrospective biodosimetry (RBD) to detect doses in the range of 0.5–8 Gy. A well-known technique for performing RBD is electron spin resonance (ESR), which can be used to measure radiation-induced paramagnetic defects in the enamel of the teeth. The concentration of these defects is linearly correlated with radiation doses in the applicable range. Despite its great potential and proven results when applied to extracted teeth, ESR still struggles to provide accurate in vivo readings. This is mainly because all available ESR-based RBD methods rely on quantitative signals for calculating the concentration of paramagnetic defects in tooth enamel to evaluate the dose. This requires an accurate knowledge of the volume of the measured enamel, which is very difficult to achieve in live subjects (since teeth also include dentin and possibly cavities). Here, we examine radiation-induced paramagnetic defects in the enamel layer of human teeth using advanced pulsed ESR methods, with the ultimate goal of supporting the development of an innovative practical RBD device for in vivo use. We employ a variety of pulsed ESR techniques, such as ESR measurements of spin–spin relaxation time (T₂), ESR monitoring of instantaneous diffusion decay time (T_ID), and dipolar ESR spectroscopy, to explore their possible use to quantify the irradiation dose. Moreover, we develop a special resonator for teeth measurements that make use of such pulse techniques to overcome the constrains of small signal magnitudes and short coherence times. Our results show a good correlation between measured values of T₂, T_ID, and the irradiated dose, but further work is required to improve the robustness, accuracy, and sensitivity of the methods presented before they could possibly be applied for in vivo measurements in typical doses of ~ 2–8 Gy. These findings and approaches may be used in the future for the development of a RBD device to evaluate ionizing radiation doses without prior knowledge of the measured enamel volume.

在重大放射事件（如核反应堆事故）后的大规模分类需要一种称为回顾性生物剂量学 (RBD) 的电离辐射剂量估计方法，以检测 0.5-8 Gy 范围内的剂量。一种众所周知的 RBD 技术是电子自旋共振 (ESR)，它可用于测量牙釉质中辐射诱导的顺磁缺陷。这些缺陷的浓度与适用范围内的辐射剂量呈线性相关。尽管在应用于拔牙时具有巨大的潜力和经过验证的结果，但 ESR 仍然难以提供准确的体内读数。这主要是因为所有可用的基于 ESR 的 RBD 方法都依赖于定量信号来计算牙釉质中顺磁缺陷的浓度来评估剂量。这需要准确了解所测量牙釉质的体积，这在活体受试者中很难实现（因为牙齿还包括牙本质和可能的蛀牙）。在这里，我们使用先进的脉冲 ESR 方法检查了人类牙齿釉质层中辐射诱导的顺磁缺陷，最终目标是支持开发用于体内使用的创新实用 RBD 设备。我们采用了各种脉冲 ESR 技术，例如自旋-自旋弛豫时间的 ESR 测量（最终目标是支持开发用于体内使用的创新实用 RBD 设备。我们采用了各种脉冲 ESR 技术，例如自旋-自旋弛豫时间的 ESR 测量（最终目标是支持开发用于体内使用的创新实用 RBD 设备。我们采用了各种脉冲 ESR 技术，例如自旋-自旋弛豫时间的 ESR 测量（T ₂ )、瞬时扩散衰减时间 ( T _ID ) 的ESR 监测和偶极 ESR 光谱，探索它们在量化辐照剂量方面的可能用途。此外，我们开发了一种用于牙齿测量的特殊谐振器，它利用这种脉冲技术来克服小信号幅度和短相干时间的限制。我们的结果显示T ₂和T _{ID 的}测量值之间存在良好的相关性和辐照剂量，但需要进一步的工作来提高所提出方法的稳健性、准确性和灵敏度，然后才能将其应用于典型剂量约为 2-8 Gy 的体内测量。这些发现和方法可能在未来用于开发 RBD 设备，以评估电离辐射剂量，而无需事先了解测量的牙釉质体积。