RADIATION MONITORING APPLICATIONS OF EUROPIUM DOPED LITHIUM POTASSIUM BORATE GLASSES
Y. S. M. ALAJERAMI *
Department of Physics, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia and Department of Medical Radiography, Al-Azhar University, Gaza Strip, Palestine.
S. HASHIM
Department of Physics, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
M. A. SALEH
Department of Physics, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia and National Atomic Energy Commission (NATEC), Sana'a, Yemen.
M. H. S. A. MHAREB
Department of Physics, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
KHALED M. ABUSHAB
Department of Medical Radiography, Al-Azhar University, Gaza Strip, Palestine.
N. TAMCHEK
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
M. A. ALKHORAYEF
Department of Radiological Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11433, PO Box 10219, Saudi Arabia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The current study reported the optical and thermoluminescence properties of borate dosimeter modified with lithium and potassium carbonate and doped with different concentrations of Eu3+ ions (0.3,0.5, 0.7 and 1 mol%). The new composition have been produced by conventional melt-quenched technique and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and diffraction thermal analysis (DTA). The luminescence spectra show four emission bands at 590, 613, 650 and 698 nm, which attributed to5D0→7F1(yellow), 5D0→7F2(orange), 5D0→7F3(red) and 5D0→7F4(red) transitions of trivalent Eu3+ ions. Regarding the thermoluminescence properties, a simple prominent glow curve was observed at 180°C for undoped composition (pure). A gradual enhancement in the intensity (TL response) was reported with incorporation of Eu3+. The maximum enhancement is achieved at 0.5 mol% with prominent TL glow peaks at 220°C when heated at a constant heating rate of 5°C.s-1. The prepared dosimeter shows a well-defined glow curve, good linearity, good effective atomic number and minimal fading response, which promise and suggest using it in different dosimetric applications.
Keywords: Lithium potassium borate, Europium, thermoluminescence