To develop a personal optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosimetry system for mixed radiation fields using alpha -Al2O3:C a discriminating badge filter. system was designed by taking advantage of its optically stimulable properties and energy dependencies. This was done by designing a multi-element badge system for powder layered alpha -Al2O3 material and an optical reader system based on high-intensity blue light-emitting diode (LED). The design of the multielement OSL dosimeter badge system developed allows the measurement of a personal dose equivalent value H-p(d) in mixed radiation fields of beta and . Dosimetric properties of the personal OSL dosimeter badge system investigated here were the dose response, energy response and multi-readability. Based on the computational simulations and experiments of the proposed dosimeter design, it was demonstrated that a multi-element dosimeter system with an OSL technology based on alpha -Al2O3:C is suitable to obtain personal dose equivalent information in mixed radiation fields. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights: reserved.