Ceramics, Glass and Glass-Ceramics for Personal Radiation Detectors

Different types of ceramics and glass have been extensively investigated due to their application in brachytherapy, radiotherapy, nuclear medicine diagnosis, radioisotope power systems, radiation processing of food, geological and archaeological dating methods. This review collects the newest experimental results on the thermoluminescent (TL) properties of crystalline and glassy materials. The comparison of the physico-chemical properties shows that glassy materials could be a promising alternative for dosimetry purposes. Furthermore, the controlled process of crystallization can enhance the thermoluminescent properties of glasses. On the other hand, the article presents information on the ranges of the linear response to the dose of ionizing radiation and on the temperature positions of the thermoluminescent peaks depending on the doping concentration with rare-earth elements for crystalline and glassy materials. Additionally, the stability of dosimetric information storage (fading) and the optimal concentration of admixtures that cause the highest thermoluminescent response for a given type of the material are characterized. The influence of modifiers addition, i.e., rare-earth elements on the spectral properties of borate and phosphate glasses is described

Infrared Stimulated Luminescence of Ce³⁺ Doped YAG Crystals

In this study, the infrared optically stimulated luminescence (IRSL) of single crystals of Ce3+ doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) was investigated for the first time. It was found that infrared stimulation of these crystals, following previous exposure to beta radiation, produces a strong luminescence signal. The highest luminescence efficiency was exhibited by the YAG crystal with 0.1% of Ce. With this crystal, it was possible to measure as low doses as 0.1 mGy. Moreover, IRSL is mainly related to the TL peak at a relatively high temperature of c.a. 175 °C, which leads to quite good stability of the signal in time. These properties create good prospects for potential applications of YAG:Ce in dosimetric radiation measurement

Fluorescent imaging of heavy charged particle tracks with LiF single crystals

Radiophotoluminescence of F2 and F3 + color centers in LiF was exploited for imaging tracks of energetic heavy charged particles. LiF crystals were irradiated with helium, carbon, neon, silicon and iron ions at the HIMAC accelerator in Chiba, Japan. The patterns created by radiation were visualized with a wide-field fluorescent microscope under blue-light excitation. The shape of the visible tracks was found not to depend on ion type and energy. The full width at half maximum of track profiles was in all cases around 500 nm, what corresponds with the resolution limit of the microscope, which was estimated to be 420 nm. On the other hand the fluorescent intensity of tracks was found to increase in a linear manner with the increasing LET. This indicates possibility of obtaining some spectrometric information on the radiation field

Luminescent dosimetry: review of methods, detectors and their applications

W artykule, po krótkim opisie rozwoju historycznego, przedstawiono teorię termoluminescencji (TL). Omówiono i porównano trzy metody stymulowania luminescencji termiczną (TSL), optyczną (OSL) i radiową (RPL). Przedstawiono i opisano szeroki zakres zastosowań detektorów TL w dozymetrii indywidualnej i środowiskowej z naciskiem na pomiary ultrawysokich dawek. Jako szczególnie ważne w dozymetrii klinicznej do radioterapii nowotworów oka, opracowano termoluminescencyjne detektory planarne 2D. Opisano udział zespołu z Instytutu Fizyki Jądrowej (IFJ) w kosmicznym eksperymencie MATROSHKA. Przedstawiono również nowe materiały TL i nowe metody pomiarowe.In the paper, after a brief description of historical development, the theory of thermoluminescence (TL) is presented. Three methods of thermally (TSL), optically (OSL) and radio (RPL) stimulated luminescence are discussed and compared. A wide range of applications of TL detectors in individual and environmental dosimetry with an attention put on ultra-high dose measurements is presented and described. As particularly important in clinical dosimetry for eye-tumor radiotherapy, the planar 2D detectors TL were developed. The participation of the Institute of Nuclear Physics (IFJ) group in the Cosmos MATROSHKA experiment is described. Also, the new TL materials and measurement methods are presented

Application of the LPE-Grown LuAG: Ce Film/YAG Crystal Composite Thermoluminescence Detector for Distinguishing the Components of the Mixed Radiation Field

Single-crystalline films (SCFs) of the LuAG: Ce garnet grown using the liquid-phase epitaxy method onto YAG single-crystal (SC) substrates were investigated for possible applications as composite thermoluminescent (TL) detectors. Such detectors may help to register the different components of ionizing radiation fields with various penetration depths, e.g., heavy charged particles and gamma or beta rays. It was found that the TL signal of LuAG: Ce SCF sufficiently differs from that of the YAG substrate concerning both the temperature and wavelength of emissions. Furthermore, even by analyzing TL glow curves, it was possible to distinguish the difference between weakly and deeply penetrating types of radiation. Within a test involving the exposure of detectors with the mixed alpha/beta radiations, the doses of both components were determined with an accuracy of a few percent

Luminescent properties of Gd14_{14}Lu0.1_{0.1}Y15_{15}Al5_5O12_{12}:Ce and Gd3_3Ga27_{27}Al2.3_{2.3}O12_{12}:Ce single crystals grown by micro-pulling down technique

The luminescent properties of the single crystals of Ce$^{3+}$ doped (Gd$_{1−x}$−yLuxYy)$_3$Al$_5$O$_{12}$:Ce (x = 0.1; y = 1.5) and Gd$_3$Ga$_x$Al$_{5-x}$O$_{12}$:Ce (x = 2.7) garnets (GLYAG:Ce and GGAG:Ce) were investigated in this work. Both crystals were grown by the micropulling down method. The conventional absorption and luminescence spectral measurements together with the luminescent spectroscopy under excitation by synchrotron radiation were performed to characterize the optical properties of crystals. It has been found that cumulative effects of reducing the ion radius from Gd$^{3+}$ to Y$^{3+}$ and Lu$^{3+}$ in the dodecahedral sites of the garnets host and alloying of Al$^{3+}$ ions in octahedral positions instead Ga$^{3+}$ ions increases the crystal field strength and causes the respective redshift of the Ce$^{3+}$ emission spectra in GLYAG:Ce crystals in comparison with GAGG:Ce garnet. The energy transfer from Gd$^{3+}$ cations to Ce$^{3+}$ has also been registered at the emission spectra and excitation spectra of both crystals. The energies of creation of the excitons bound with the Ce$^{3+}$ ions in GLYAG:Ce and GAGG:Ce hosts were found to be equal to 6.415 ± 0.15 eV and 6.22 ± 0.15 eV, respectively. Both crystals show well-distinguished thermo- and optically stimulated luminescence (TSL and IR OSL) after $α$- and $β$-particle irradiation. Meanwhile, GAGG:Ce crystals show significantly higher TSL and IR OSL intensities (by 3–4 times) and faster OSL decay kinetics in comparison with GLYAG:Ce counterpar

Potential application of pure silica optical flat fibers for radiation therapy dosimetry

Pure silica optical flat fibers (FF) have been proposed as the basis for a novel radiation sensor by the measurement of the thermoluminescence (TL) produced. In this paper the TL performance of the FFs were studied. Using a linear accelerator (LINAC) delivering doses in the range 0.2–10.0 Gy, the TL dosimetric glow curves of the FFs were studied with respect to 6 MeV electron and 6 MV photon beams. When exposed to 6 MeV electron irradiation, the pure silica FFs displayed a supralinear response starting from 2 Gy up to 10.0 Gy. While for 6 MV photon irradiation, the FFs shows linear characteristic (f(D)=1) nearly up to 2 Gy. The TL intensity (Im) of the main peak of FFs is 1.5 times higher for 6 MeV electron beams than for 6 MV photon beams. The maximum peak temperature (Tm) it is not affected by the type of irradiation used at the same dose while the maximum TL intensity (Im) was found to be dependent on the type of radiation used. Overall results indicate that the pure silica FFs can be used as radiation sensors in the high-dose therapy dosimetry