Thermoluminescence characteristics of the Li2CO3–K2CO3–H3BO3 glass system co-doped with CuO and MgO

In this work, the thermoluminescence (TL) properties of lithium potassium borate (LKB) doped with CuO and co-doped with MgO were determined for the first time. The induced TL glow curves of CuO doped samples were found to be produced at 220 °C with a single prominent peak. An enhancement of about three times is shown with every increment of 0.1 mol% MgO as a co-dopant impurity. This enhancement may attribute to the ability of magnesium to create extra traps and consequently the energy transfer to monovalent Cu ions. LKB:Cu,Mg has low Z material (Zeff=8.55), good reproducibility and a linear dose response in a long span of irradiation doses. The current phosphor showed sensitivity 15 times less than that of LiF:Mg,Ti (TLD-100). The trap parameters, including order of kinetics (b), activation energy (E) and frequency factor (s) associated with LKB:Cu,Mg were also determined. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra (emission and excitation) for the prepared sample were studied and compared with the TL spectra. It is clear that LKB:Cu,Mg shows higher TL and PL intensity as compared to LKB:Cu. Thus, Mg plays an important role in the enhancement of the TL and PL intensity of LKB:Cu phosphor.