Thermoluminescent Behavior of LiF (TLD-100) from 77° to 500°K

Abstract

The thermoluminescence (TL) from dosimetry grade LiF has been studied over the temperature range from 77° to ∼500°K and over the exposure range of 50–10⁵ R. A total of ten glow peaks are resolved and the characteristics of many of the related traps have been measured. The lowest temperature glow peak (∼145°K) has the maximum of its emitted TL spectra at ∼250 nm, whereas the maxima of the other glow peaks are at ∼400 nm. The TL from the 145°K trap is about 20 times more intense than from the dosimetry traps at ∼190°C. All glow peaks except the one at 145°K exhibit a nonlinear response with radiation exposure. The amount of this supralinear response is proportional to the cube of the absolute temperature of the glow peaks. Optical repopulation studies indicate that most of the peaks are due to electron traps, but two of the low‐temperature peaks have distinctly different behavior, indicating that they might be associated with hole traps.