THERMOLUMINESCENCE RESPONSE OF CAF2 - MN IN POLYTETRAFLUOROETHYLENE TO ELECTRONS

Foils of powdered CaF2:Mn in polytetrafluorethylene, with thicknesses from 15 to 150 μm, were exposed to monoenergetic electrons having energies in the region between 20 and 400 keV. The thermoluminescence response of the foil was studied as a function of the energy and the fluence of the incident electrons, the foil thickness, and the electron energy absorbed in the foils. The dependence on electron energy of the response per unit fluence was found to change considerably with foil thickness, the maximum reponse occurring at approximately the energy of the incident electrons whose ranges are equal to the thickness of the foil layers. From the lowest incident-electron energy employed (20 keV) up to this energy (200 keV for the 150 μm layer), response per unit fluence increased linearly with electron energy. Therefore, response per unit energy fluence (in this energy range approximately equal to total energy absorbed in the foils) was independent of the energy of the incident electrons, at least within the large error of the experiment. The response per unit of electron energy absorbed also agreed, within the limits of experimental error, with that obtained for foils exposed to 60Co gamma radiation. © 1968 Health Physics Society.