Thermally and Optically Stimulated Luminescence of AlN-Y2O3 Ceramics after Ionising Irradiation

Abstract

Thermally (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) were studied in AlN-Y<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> ceramics after irradiation with ionising radiation. The extremely high TL sensitivity (approximately 60 times the sensitivity of LiF:Mg,Tl (TLD-100)) makes AlN-Y<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> ceramics attractive as a TLD material. However, an essential drawback of AlN-Y<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> is at its high fading rate. Special attention has been focused on understanding and improving the fading properties. In particular, the influence of the ceramics production conditions and the additive concentration on the fading rate have been studied. Experimental results on spectral properties and thermal evolution of OSL are also presented. The stimulation spectrum covers the spectral range from green to infrared light. A combination of thermal and optical stimulation allowed a correlation to be found between parameters of OSL and TL after the same irradiation dose. It is concluded that OSL occurs due to depopulation of shallower traps than TL traps.