Photoluminescence and thermoluminescence properties of Li2O-Na2O-B2O3 glass

Abstract

Influence of Nd3+ concentration on the optical and thermoluminescence (TL) properties of melt-annealed synthesized 10 Na2O: 20 Li2O: (70-x) B2O3: xNd2O3, where 0.1≤ x ≤0.7 (LNB) glasses are determined. The absence of sharp peaks in X-ray diffraction patterns confirms the amorphous nature of the prepared glasses. The photoluminescence spectra under 800 nm laser excitations at room temperature exhibit three prominent peaks centred at 538, 603 and 675 nm corresponding to the transitions of 4G7/2 → 4I9/2, [4G7/2 → 4I11/2, 4G5/2 → 4I9/2] and [4G7/2→ 4I13/2, 4G5/2 → 4I11/2], respectively. The TL glow curve exhibits a prominent peak (Tm) at 180°C. The best performance of the prepared glass was found at 0.5 mol% of Nd2O3. We achieved a good linearity of TL response against dose between 0.5 to 4.0 Gy. The calculated value of the effective atomic number, Zeff, is 7.55 which is nearly tissue equivalent (Zeff = 7.42). These promising features demonstrate the capability of the aforementioned glass to be used as a radiation dosimeter.