High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Linear energy transfer (LET) is the linear density of energy lost by a charged ionizing particle travelling through matter. Since the energy loss is part of the definition, LET is a positive quantity. LET depends on the nature of the radiation as well as on the material traversed. A high LET will attenuate the beam more quickly, generally making shielding more effective and preventing deep penetration. On the other hand, the higher concentration of deposited energy can cause more severe damage to any microscopic structures near the particle track. If a microscopic defect can cause larger-scale failure, as is the case in biological cells and microelectronics, the LET helps explain why radiation damage is sometimes disproportionate to the absorbed dose. Dosimetry attempts to factor in this effect with radiation weighting factors.