White light-emitting diodes for optical stimulation of aluminium oxide in OSL dosimetry

The results of comparative investigations into the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) of anion-defective corundum excited by radiation of blue and white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are reported. The continuous-wave OSL (CW-OSL) measurements showed that the white LED (compared to the blue LED) and the chosen geometry allow the amplitude of the OSL response to increase by a factor of more than 40 and the dosimetric information readout time to decrease by a factor of 20. The effect of deep traps on the behavior of the CW-OSL curves of anion-defective corundum was studied. It was found that the filling of deep traps essentially increases the TL yield with a dosimetric peak at 450 K and the CW-OSL-yield under stimulation with blue and white LEDs. It was also found that this filling causes a considerable change in the shape of the OSL curve and the time parameters of the decay. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Interactions of Cosmic Rays in the primary energy range (0.1-1) PeV studied by the ARGO-YBJ Experiment

The ARGO-YBJ detector layout, features and location offer a unique possibility for a detailed study of several characteristics of the hadronic component of the cosmic ray flux in an energy range hardly accessed by direct measurements. The proton-air cross section has already been measured by ARGO-YBJ in an energy region up to ~ 100 TeV where the primary cosmic ray composition is sufficiently well known for that measure to be unbiased. The analog readout of the RPC signals now provides new tools to measure the lateral distribution of particle density (LDF) as close as a few meters from the core and to investigate with unprecedented resolution the shower time structure. This allows to extend the hadronic interaction and mass composition studies up to ~PeV energies in the laboratory rest frame. Moreover, it is shown that the LDF of detected showers can be properly described, even very close to the shower axis, by a NKG-like function, whose shape parameter is clearly related to the shower age and can be used for studying the mass composition of cosmic rays

The peculiarities of anion vacancy distribution and the relationship between their concentration and the Tld-500 detector Tl output

A procedure has been developed for estimating the uniformity of anion vacancy distribution in TLD-500 detectors on the basis of anion-deficient corundum single crystals. Vacancy distribution topograms were constructed for TLD-500 detectors with different sensitivities to irradiation. Analysis of the topograms provided correlations between average anion vacancy concentrations and thermoluminescent (TL) yields in the main peak with a maximum at 450 K. To confirm the pattern of regularities, the effects of high-temperature annealing of TLD-500 samples in air at T = 1700 K were studied depending on its duration. Increasing the annealing time from 40 to 105 minutes was found to correlatedly reduce the anion vacancy concentrations and TL-yields in the basic and high-temperature peaks at 450 and 830 K, respectively. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.The work was partly supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant No. 18-08-00093-a) and UB RAS (pr. 18-11-2-2)

Optically stimulated luminescence in strongly irradiated anion-deficient corundum and associated phototransfer effects

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), its mechanisms and the role of phototransfer effects in it have been comprehensively studied for strongly irradiated anion-deficient corundum with a high-temperature thermoluminescence (TL) peak at 830 K and without it. The fast component of the OSL kinetics in the samples was found to be due to the emptying of the main trap. The slow component was observed only in samples with the 830 K TL peak and was caused by the depletion of deep traps responsible for TL peaks in the range of 500 K<T<740 K. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

Effect of iron doping on the properties of nanopowders and coatings on the basis of Al2O3 produced by pulsed electron beam evaporation

Multiphase nanopowders (NPs) and amorphous/amorphous-nanocrystalline coatings (A-NC) have been prepared by the evaporation of ceramic targets of Al2O3-Fe2O3 (0.1, 3, 5 Fe2O3 mass %) by a pulsed electron beam in vacuum. The specific surface area of NP Al2O3-Fe2O3 reached 277 m2/g. The α and γ phases Al2O3 and other nonidentified phases have been found in the composition of NP Al2O3-Fe2O3. All coatings contained an insignificant fraction of the crystalline γ phase. No secondary phases on the basis of iron have been revealed. According to transmission electron microscopy, the fine fraction of NP Al2O3-Fe2O3 consists of amorphous nanoparticles of an irregular and quasispherical shape no more than 10 nm in size which form agglomerates reaching 1.5 μm. A large fraction of NPs consists of crystal spherical nanoparticles with preferential sizes of about 10-20 nm. All NP Al2O3-Fe2O3 showed ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. The maximum magnetic response has been established in NPs with a minimum iron content (1.1 mass %). The pulsed cathode luminescence spectra of coatings and NP Al2O3-Fe2O3 have been presented by a wide band in the wavelength range of 300-900 nm regardless of their phase composition. Phase transformations into NP AL2O3-1.1% Fe and coatings from undoped Al2O3 heated to 1400°C occur according to the following scheme: amorphous phase → γ → δ → θ → α, regardless of their initial phase composition. The threshold of thermal stability of the Γ phase in NPs and the coating of undoped Al2O3 does not exceed 830°C. For the first time, the increased thermo and optically stimulated luminescent response comparable with the response of the leading TLD-500K thermoluminescent dosimeter has been reached in A-NC coatings of undoped Al2O3. © 2013 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Luminescent and dosimetric properties of thin nanostructured layers of aluminum oxide obtained using evaporation of a target by a pulsed electron beam

Results of a study of optically and thermally stimulated luminescence (OSL and TL) of thin nanostructured aluminum oxide coatings obtained with evaporation of the target by a pulsed electron beam and deposited on quartz glass, Al, steel, Cu, Ta, and graphite wafers are presented. It follows from data of X-ray phase analysis that the obtained Al2O3 layers have an amorphous nanocrystal structure with different contents of the γ phase depending on the geometry of the wafer location on evaporation and annealing temperature of the samples. It is established that the material of the wafer and the ratio of the amorphous and γ phase in Al2O3 layers affect the yields of OSL and TL. Annealing at up to 970 K results in an increase of γ-phase concentration and OSL and TL responses. It was found that the yields of OSL and TL for the most emission-effective coating samples are comparable with those for the detectors on the basis of anion-defective corundum. The dose-dependence for β radiation, which was linear in the range 20-5000 mGy, was investigated. © 2013 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Dynamic tests of multi-detector radiometric system on central blood circulation phantom

Phantoms of organs and biological systems are widely used for verification of radioisotope protocols. The construction and operation of the heart and circulation phantom is described. The present model was designed for experimental testing of multi-detector radiometric system, prototype of which was designed in Ural Federal University as an extension and alternative to Anger camera and single-photon-emission tomography radionuclide diagnostics. The model represents vital dynamic properties of the single-chamber pulsing heart and circulation, featuring adjustable heart rate, blood volume, ejection fraction and flowrate. The trial experiments were performed with 99m Tc-pertechnetate to obtain time-activity curves and the ejection fraction was thus measured basing on first-pass radio angiography technique. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd