Reference fluence-to-dose-equivalent conversion coefficients and angular dependence factors for 4-element ICRU tissue, water and PMMA slab phantoms irradiated by broad electron beams

In order to support a Joint ICRP/ICRU Task Group action aiming at the collection of data of interest in the field of radiation protection, the EURADOS Working Group 4 'Numerical Dosimetry' has initiated a computational programme for the determination of fluence-to-absorbed-dose or dose-equivalent conversion coefficients for slab phantoms irradiated by external electrons of normal and oblique incidence. Seven experts in electron transport simulations agreed to contribute to the project. Using different code systems, they provided new data in the energy range between 60 keV and 10 MeV for three slab phantoms consisting of 4-element ICRU tissue, water and PMMA, at depths of 0.007 g.cm^-2, 0.3 g.cm^-2 and 1.0 g.cm^-2. From those data, reference conversion coefficients were derived for each depth. This paper summarises the main features of the detailed data analysis subsequently performed on the different sets of numerical values, and extensively described in PTB Report Dos-24.