Dose-dependent change in the optically stimulated luminescence decay of Al₂O₃:C

Abstract

Al₂O₃:C is an established thermoluminescence (TL)/optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosemeter for personnel, space and medical applications. Mathematically, the decay of Al₂O₃:C OSL can be described by a sum of three exponentials, termed as fast, medium and slow components. The shape of the OSL decay of Al₂O₃:C is known to be dose dependent. This contribution explores this observation and provides a simple explanation for the dose-dependent OSL decay shape using the differences in the dose response of the individual components. The growth of these components with radiation dose is different such that the fast component grows linearly up to 300 Gy and the medium and slow components saturate at ~20 Gy. Further, the shape of the OSL decay from an alpha-irradiated sample is similar to a sample irradiated to high beta doses. Component-specific alpha efficiency shows that the fast component has higher alpha efficiency as compared to the medium and the slow components.