Comparison of Air Kerma and Absorbed Dose to Water Based Protocols for High Energy Photon Beams: Theoretical and Experimental Study

New types of protocols have been recently in development, all based on an absorbed dose-to-water with the aim of improving the accuracy of measurements of absorbed dose to water. IAEA TRS-277, the air-kerma standard-based present protocol, and IAEA TRS-398 and AAPM TG-51, the absorbed dose-to-water standard-based new one, were studied and compared theoretically and experimentally for photon beams of 6, 10, and 15 MV. NE 2571 and 3 Farmer types of ionization chambers in widely commercial use were used to determine an absorbed dose to water at the reference depth in water. Two different kinds of calibration factors were given respectively for every chamber calibrated in $\^$60/CO gamma ray beams from a Korean Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (KFDA). This work shows that there is around 1 % of difference of absorbed doses measured between two different types of calibration systems owing to different physical parameters and reference conditions used. We hope this work to help form the basis on development of new type of protocol in Korea.