Synthesis and thermoluminescence properties of rare earth-doped NaMgBO3 phosphor

Rare earth (Dy3+ and Sm3+)-doped sodium magnesium borate (NaMgBO3) is synthesized by solution combustion synthesis method keeping their thermoluminescence properties in mind. The reaction produced very stable crystalline NaMgBO3:RE (RE = Dy3+, Sm3+) phosphors. The phosphors are exposed to Co-60 gamma-ray radiations dose of varying rate from 5 to 25 Gy, and their TL characteristics with kinetic parameters are studied. NaMgBO3:Dy3+ phosphor shows two peaks for lower doping concentration of Dy3+ while it reduced to single peak for the higher concentrations of activator Dy3+. NaMgBO3:Dy3+ shows the major glow peak around 200 degrees C while NaMgBO3:Sm3+ phosphors show two well-separated glow peaks at 200 and 332 degrees C respectively. The thermoluminescence intensity of these phosphors was compare with the commercially available TLD-100 (Harshaw) phosphor. The TL responses for gamma-ray radiations dose were found to be linear from 5 to 25 Gy for both phosphors while the fading in each case is calculated for the tenure of 45 days.