Radiobiological aspects of supralinear photographic emulsions

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Abstract
Nuclear emulsions of the Ilford K series, exposed to X-rays from 15-150 kVp and systematically underdeveloped, exhibit supralinear blackness-exposure curves ranging from 1-4 hit in character, and whose shape is the same at all excitation voltages. Processing can be so adjusted that the curve shape is well represented by the .alpha.-.beta. model, and matches an experimental dose-response curve obtained with hamster cells after irradiation with .gamma.-rays. The effective grain size of these emulsions is 1.3 .mu.m when normalized to unit density material for comparison with the radiation sensitive elements of biological cells. With fractionated exposures, response curves which mimic Elkind recovery are produced.