Thermoluminescence emission from quartz at 480 nm as a high-dose radiation marker

Abstract

In this study we investigate the creation of high dose markers in the TL of quartz when irradiated with doses up to and exceeding 8 kGy, with a view to using the characteristics as a potential tool for retrospective dosimetry. Supralinear growth of the 210 °C and 350 °C 480 nm TL peaks was confirmed at high doses, as observed by others. Both peaks decrease abruptly at doses over 16 kGy, which we tentatively attribute to depletion of the 480 nm luminescence centres. Test doses applied after measurement of the high-dose TL showed that the 350 °C TL peak retained the sensitisation to dose, whereas the 210 °C TL peak did not. The 350 °C TL peak retains a significant marker of prior radiation exposure even after a 1-h annealing at 400 °C. Kinetic analysis on a quartz sample has shown that at high doses the 210 °C and 350 °C TL peaks have fundamentally the same E and s values as found for low-dose samples. The 12 ka lifetime of the 210 °C peak makes it suitable for retrospective dosimetry.