Optically stimulated luminescence in nano- and microcrystalline BaSO4:Eu

BaSO4:Eu is a highly sensitive high Z thermoluminescence (TL) phosphor. The conventional synthesis of BaSO4:Eu yields very good TL sensitivity but weak optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) sensitivity. Earlier, we have reported novel synthesis method for the preparation of europium-doped BaSO4 having good OSL sensitivity. This work reports OSL in nano- and microcrystalline phases of BaSO4:Eu. The study showed that the BaSO4:Eu sample in submicron size shows high TL as well as OSL sensitivity and its OSL sensitivity is 17% compared to the commercial alumina-doped carbon (Al2O3:C, Landauer Inc.). The TL peak at 200 °C gets depleted by 77% after the BSL readout. The dose response of the sample is linear in the 10 mGy–1 Gy dose range with MDD of ~ 10 μGy. For first ten days, practically no fading is observed and the phosphor shows excellent reusable property. High sensitivity, good reusability and low fading of the phosphor will make it suitable in radiation dosimetry applications, particularly for X-ray dosimetry using OSL technique.