Study of trap competition in thermoluminescence of fluorite

Abstract The glow curves of most thermoluminescent (TL) materials generally exhibit several peaks even in the range of room temperature (RT) to 400°C. Do the traps corresponding to the various peaks compete with each other during filling for the free charge carriers that are produced upon irradiation. Radiation induced sensitization in TL has generally been ascribed to the elimination of a competing deep trap though there is evidence to the contrary and alternate models have been proposed. In this paper competition for charge carriers during trap filling has been examined in natural yellow fluorite by post-irradiation annealing and irradiation at elevated temperatures. The results obtained indicate that there is no significant competition during trap filling in yellow fluorite.