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The motivation of this work was to produce TL dosimeters based on crystals of CaSO4 doped with thulium and silver, by means of a suitable new route. The crystals were produced by an adaptation of the slow evaporation route using calcium carbonate (CaCO3) as precursor, and incorporating the dopants (Tm2O3 and silver nanoparticles) in a solution of sulfuric acid, which is evaporated resulting in CaSO4:Tm or CaSO4:Tm,Ag crystal powders. X-ray diffraction analyses showed that the produced samples exhibit only a single phase corresponding to the crystal structure of anhydrite. Optical characterization was performed to determine the band gap of the materials. Samples did not show a reasonable OSL signal after stimulation with blue LEDs. TL characteristics such as glow curves, linearity and reproducibility of response, minimum detectable dose and fading were evaluated. The CaSO4:Tm samples showed TL emission glow curves with peaks in temperatures proper for dosimetry. The CaSO4:Tm,Ag samples presented a very intense peak displaced to high temperatures that could only be observed by applying heating rates below 4 °C/s. Samples doped with thulium oxide and silver nanoparticles showed the highest TL intensity and lowest fading.

The linearity characteristic in radiation dosimetry presents a growing interest. Glasses have been applied to high radiation doses. In this work, materials will be analyzed and compared in relation to their linearity ranges. Lithium diborate, sodium diborate and commercial glass were irradiated with doses from 10 Gy to 10 kGy using a 60Co Gamma-Cell system 220 and evaluated with the UV–vis technique. The sensitivity analyses were applied through four methodologies, searching for linear regions in their response. The results show that all four applied analyses indicate linear regions for the tested radiation detectors. The materials with higher linearity range, in descending order, were lithium diborate, sodium diborate and commercial soda-lime glass. The radiation detectors present potential use for radiation dosimetry in intermediate and high doses.

From Obsidian silicate, in its natural form, pellets were manufactured adding Teflon to the material in powder. These pellets were exposed to the gamma radiation beams of a 60Co source in a dose interval from 10 Gy to 10 kGy. The Obsidian in powder was investigated in relation to its physical and chemical characteristics, by means of the X-ray diffraction, scanning electronic microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy techniques. After the irradiation procedure, the signal of the samples was evaluated by means of three techniques: thermoluminescence (TL), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermally stimulated exoelectron emission (TSEE). The objective of this work was to verify the TL, OSL and TSEE response of the Obsidian+Teflon pellets after exposure to high doses of gamma radiation. Different response characterization tests were performed, as TL and TSEE emission curves, OSL signal decay, reproducibility, dose-response curves, lower detection limits and fading. From these results, it can be observed that the Obsidian+Teflon pellets present good conditions to be used as high dose gamma radiation detectors; the results obtained with the OSL technique were the most adequate in terms of response in function of absorbed dose. The fading of the signals, varying from about 26% (TSEE) to 44% (OSL), in a time interval of 360 h post-irradiation, also showed favorable results for the use of this material as radiation detector, when the measurements are taken after a defined time interval.

Spectrolite + Teflon and Opal + Teflon pellets were studied in this work in relation to their dosimetric properties, using the thermally stimulated exoelectron emission (TSEE) phenomenon. The purpose of this work was to study these materials to be used in high-dose dosimetry of 60Co irradiators, which are employed for several industrial applications. The basic physical principle of this technique is the emission of low energy electrons from the surface of different crystals. For this reason, it is very employed in work with specially radiation sources of low penetrating power, as alpha and beta radiation, but also with gamma sources. Both materials had already their dosimetric chatacteristics verified in previous works after exposure to high doses of a 60Co source and measurements by means of thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) techniques. The TSEE response was investigated in terms of the following tests: TSEE emission curves, reproducibility, minimum detectable doses and dose-response curves.

This paper aims to show how the variance reduction technique "Geometry splitting/Russian roulette" improves the statistical error and reduces uncertainties in the determination of the absorbed dose rate in tissue using an extrapolation chamber for beta radiation. The results show that the use of this technique can increase the number of events in the chamber cavity leading to a closer approximation of simulation result with the physical problem. There was a good agreement among the experimental measurements, the certificate of manufacture and the simulation results of the absorbed dose rate values and uncertainties. The absorbed dose rate variation coefficient using the variance reduction technique "Geometry splitting/Russian roulette" was 2.85%.

In this work, the response of the natural material Opal was studied in relation to its thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), after exposure to the gamma radiation of a 60 Co source. The structure of the powdered Opal was verified using the X-ray diffraction, scanning electronic microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy techniques. The material, in its stone form, was turned into powder and mixed to Teflon (also in powder) in three different concentrations, and then pellets were manufactured. The aim of this work was to evaluate the response of these pellets in high-doses of gamma radiation beams, and to observe their possible application as dosimeters, using the TL and OSL techniques. The dosimetric properties of the samples were analyzed by means of different tests, as: TL emission curves and OSL signal decay curves, reproducibility of TL and OSL response, minimum detectable dose, TL and OSL dose–response curves (5 Gy–10 kGy), and fading. The results obtained in this work, for the TL and OSL phenomena, demonstrated that the pellets of Opal + Teflon present an adequate performance e possibility of use as dosimeters in beams of high-dose gamma radiation.

The Spectrolite, from the silicate family, a variety of Labradorite, was already studied in relation to its thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) responses, in high-dose gamma radiation fields; the results indicated their good application as gamma radiation detectors. In the present work, the analyses performed to investigate powdered Spectrolite are presented, by means of the XRD, SEM and EDX techniques. The luminescent behavior of Spectrolite + Teflon samples, in the concentration of 1:1, was studied in beta radiation beams (90Sr + 90Y), using the luminescent phenomena of TL and OSL. The results showed adequate TL and OSL reproducibility of the samples; the dose–response curves for both techniques presented a linear behavior in a range from 0.5 Gy to 1 kGy, and the fading showed that after 150 h there were 46.7% and 31.6% of the remaining signal of samples for TL and OSL responses, respectively. Therefore, the Spectrolite + Teflon pellets may be used in beta radiation dosimetry.

The thermoluminescence (TL) and infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) responses of in-house produced CaF2:Tm dosimeters are investigated in this work, envisaging their application in electron beam (EB) radiation processing. The irradiations were performed at an industrial EB accelerator (1.5 MeV) covering a dose rate range of 2–8 kGy/s and dose up to 10 kGy. In general, the TL glow curves display four peaks, termed as peaks 2, 3, 4, and 5, corresponding to temperatures at ~150, 200, 240, and 300 °C, respectively. The intensity of the low-temperature peaks (2 and 3) grows with the dose, while the others remain constant (saturated). Nevertheless, an evident dose effect on the glow curves manifests in decreased peak3/peak2 ratio with increasing doses. The CW-IRSL curves exhibit similar patterns with an initial signal increase, followed by an exponential decay. Instead of the normal monotonic decays, these peak-shaped curves might be due to the charge capture competition between empty shallow traps and recombination centers. Both TL and IRSL intensities increase linearly with doses up to 6 kGy, and for higher doses, they become sub-linear with a saturation trend around 10 kGy. Another common feature of TL/IRSL response is its dose rate dependence, being more sensitive at higher dose rates. Despite being dose-rate dependent, the CaF2:Tm dosimeters might be suitable for EB processing dosimetry. However, for their use as routine dosimeters, relevant dosimetric characteristics, such as fading and response reproducibility, have to be investigated. Work in this direction is underway.

The understanding of the electron trapping and recombination processes is the key to successful applications of materials in ionizing radiation dosimetry, which unfortunately are not well known yet. In this work, the influence of the photoionization cross-section ( σ ) was investigated on the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) response of the lithium fluoride (LiF) compound. The σ has been predicted through the expression proposed by Lima–Batista–Couto. In addition, OSL measurements were performed using the continuous-wave stimulation mode (CW-OSL), with 60 s of light stimulation. The samples were submitted to 10 Gy and 15 Gy of absorbed dose. Phonon dispersion and density calculations are presented by using the Density Functional Perturbation Theory. The results, obtained by a combination of different methodologies, show that the low sensitivity of LiF to the light stimulus ( λ = 470 nm) is due to the very low magnitude of σ at the used excitation wavelength. A comparison with Al 2 O 3 :C was also carried out, showing that the intensity and the pattern of the OSL curve decay are modified by the σ . These results play an important role in understanding the luminescent properties of this material, and they open a new opportunity to improve the light sensitivity of this detector.

MgB4O7 is a promising matrix host for use in radiation dosimetry due to its low effective atomic number (Zeff = 8.2). The present work aims to investigate dosimetric and luminescent properties of the MgB4O7:Ce0,5%,Li0.5%, produced through solid-state synthesis, using the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) technique. The first part of this work discusses the luminescent aspects of this phosphor, such as thermoluminescent emission spectra, photoluminescence emission, lifetime of emission centers and the effect of different lithium concentrations as co-dopant. In the second part, the basic OSL properties were evaluated, including dose-response curve, minimum detectable dose (MDD), step annealing, and best bleaching set-up for reuse of MgB4O7:Ce0,5%Li0.5% composites. The photoluminescence and thermoluminescence emission spectra of the composites present an emission peak at UV-VIS range centered around 370 nm, which is the most suitable for OSL dosimetry; this emission is related to Ce3+ electronic transitions and has a luminescence center lifetime of 0.003 ms. From the step-annealing analyses, it can be seen that the OSL emission is related to different depth trap centers in the band gap. The OSL dose-response curve is linear from 0.1 Gy to 100 Gy, with a MDD around 1 mGy. These properties make this material a strong candidate for different applications in radiation dosimetry field.

The present work describes the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) of a tissue equivalent crystal, the magnesium tetraborate, doped with dysprosium or cerium and co-doped with lithium due to the lack of materials with characteristics suitable for several dosimetric applications. In the present work, MgB 4 O 7 :Dy,Li and MgB 4 O 7 :Ce,Li were characterized through their OSL and radioluminescence emissions. Our results indicate that MgB 4 O 7 :Ce,Li has a strong emission peaked at 420 nm that is connected to the Ce 3+ electronic transitions, while the emission of MgB 4 O 7 :Dy,Li has several peaks connected to the Dy 3+ transitions. The OSL decay curves from both materials are composed by two components: a slow one and a fast one. MgB 4 O 7 :Ce,Li is 10 times more sensitive than MgB 4 O 7 :Dy,Li, especially due to the wavelengths of the emission peaks. The dose response for both materials were sublinear from 0.2 Gy to 100 Gy, for MgB 4 O 7 :Ce,Li, and from 0.2 Gy to 40 Gy, for the MgB 4 O 7 :Dy,Li. The OSL signal from MgB 4 O 7 :Ce,Li showed good stability over 40 days (with a fading 4 O 7 :Dy,Li presented a complete fading of the signal after 40 days. These results suggest a clear potential of MgB 4 O7:Ce,Li for radiation dosimetry purposes using OSL technique.

The OSL characteristics of three different borate glass matrices containing magnesia (LMB), quicklime (LCB) or potassium carbonate (LKB) were examined. Five different formulations for each composition were produced using a melt-quenching method and analyzed in terms of both dose-response curves and OSL shape decay. The samples were irradiated using a 90Sr/90Y beta source with doses up to 30 Gy. Dose-response curves were plotted using the initial OSL intensity as the chosen parameter. The OSL analysis showed that LKB glasses are the most sensitive to beta irradiation. For the most sensitive LKB composition, the irradiation process was also done using a 60Co gamma source in a dose range from 200 to 800 Gy. In all cases, no saturation was observed. A fitting process using a three-term exponential function was performed for the most sensitive formulations of each composition, which suggested a similar behavior in the OSL decay.