Study of Traps in Special Doped Optical Fiber Radiation Sensors via Glow Curve Analysis

Abstract

Thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLDs) are widely used, serving the needs of various radiation applications. In recent times optical fibers have been introduced as alternatives to more conventional phosphor-based TLD systems, with many efforts being carried out to improve their thermoluminescence (TL) yield. While there have been extensive studies of many of the various TLD characteristics of optical fibers, including TL response, linearity, reproducibility, repeatability, sensitivity and fading, far more limited studies have concerned dependence on the type of TL activator used in optical fibers, promoting the TL mechanism. Present study focuses on TLD glow curves analysis for five different doped optical fibers that have been subjected to photon and electron irradiation. Trap parameters such as activation energy and frequency factors have been obtained from second order kinetics analysis, based on computerized glow curve deconvolution. An interesting observation is that co-doped fibers typically leads to enhanced TL characteristics, pointing to a need for optimization of the choice and levels in use of co-dopants.