A comparative investigation of Ce3+/Dy3+ and Eu2+ doped LiAlO2 phosphors for high dose radiation dosimetry: Explanation of defect recombination mechanism using PL, TL and EPR study

Abstract This study describes a comparative analysis of γ-ray irradiated thermoluminescence properties of Ce 3+ /Dy 3+ and Eu 2+ doped LiAlO 2 phosphor. LiAlO 2 : Ce 3+ /Dy 3+ /Eu 2+ phosphors were synthesized by solution combustion method. The as synthesized phosphors were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for structural and morphological study. Rietveld Refinement of XRD patterns were executed by using Fullprof suit software program. Thermoluminescence characteristics of these phosphors show a linear dose response for a wide range of gamma radiation, especially Eu 2+ doped LiAlO 2 phosphor. The presence of large number of lithium vacancies in LiAlO 2 phosphor was supposed to be responsible for TL characteristics. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study of un-doped and Ce 3+ /Dy 3+ /Eu 2+ doped LiAlO 2 phosphor was carried out to confirm the presence of Eu 2+ ion and cation, anion vacancies in the host lattice. The responsible defect recombination mechanism for observed TL peak in LiAlO 2 was developed on the basis of TL and EPR study of irradiated and un-irradiated samples. TL kinetics was studied through glow curve deconvolution, Chen's peak shape method and initial rise method. A good match of kinetic parameters was observed between Chen's peak shape method and IR method. The present phosphors may find application in the dosimetry of high dose ionizing radiation.