Influence of repeated use and annealing atmosphere on LiF TLD-100 response to α-particles

We study the possible effects of both the annealing atmosphere and the repeated use of chips on the response of LiF thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD-100) irradiated with 5 MeV α-particles. No statistically significant differences were found between glow curve shapes or total deconvoluted response of dosimeter chips annealed either in N2 or in air and irradiated to about 4.5 Gy up to ten consecutive times. Annealing in O2, and repeated use of the chips up to five times, showed similar results. We conclude that TLD-100 dosimeters used under α-particle irradiation can subjected to a simple air annealing between a series of consecutive irradiations and readouts.