Thermoluminescence studies of CaF2: Dy irradiated with gamma rays and ion beams

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms Beam interactions with materials and atoms, 2024-09, Vol.554, p.165427, Article 165427
• Main Authors: Gadre, Sayali Sudhir, Tripathi, Ambuj, Singh, Birendra, Nattudurai, Ravikumar, Malinen, Eirik, Pandey, Anant
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Defects; Dosimetry; Ion beams; Nanophosphor; Thermoluminescence
• ISSN: 0168-583X; 1872-9584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2024.165427

In this study, the nanophosphor CaF2: Dy was prepared by the chemical co-precipitation method with different concentrations of Dy (0.0 to 0.4 mol%). The material was irradiated with gamma rays from Co-60 and proton beams of energy 2 MeV and 9 MeV. Proton irradiation was carried out at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory, University of Oslo, Norway. The thermoluminescence (TL) glow curves for different concentrations of dopant Dy irradiated with 100 Gy gamma dose reveal the optimized concentration to be 0.3 mol%. The average crystallite size was found to be 49 nm using X-ray diffraction analysis. TEM studies revealed that the particles were spherical in shape and with size in the range of 30–80 nm. It has a batch homogeneity of 22 %. The TL dose response was studied from 10 Gy to 15 kGy dose of gamma rays and it shows a wide linear response up to 7 kGy beyond which saturation is observed. CaF2: Dy has two different TL glow peaks for proton beam irradiation and shows a linear dose response for both the energies of proton beams. The material needs to be studied further for its energy dependence using gamma rays and proton beams. It shows potential to be used as a dosimeter for gamma rays.