Plastic scintillation dosimeters emit light when irradiated. Scintillation may be read out by a photodetector and correlated with absorbed dose. Plastic scintillators have several desirable qualities including near tissue equivalency, small size limited by the ability to detect small amounts of light, and energy independence in the MV range.
These qualities make plastic scintillators valuable detectors with applications in small field dosimetry, high resolution detector arrays (IMRT QA), and, because the collision stopping power ratio of plastic is similar to water, electron measurements.
Problems, such as low signal-to-noise ratio and yellowing of plastic materials under irradiation, are likely to be addressed as these detectors develop.