Thermoluminescence Characteristics of Copper and Terbium Co-Doped Lithium Tetraborate Glass

In this study, the preparation and characterization of copper (Cu) and terbium (Tb) co-doped lithium borate glass using spectroscopic and thermoluminescence techniques are reported. A thermal treatment was introduced to increase the degree of crystallinity. The thermoluminescence glow curve signal of the samples displayed upon exposure to beta radiation was measured and analyzed. It was found that the samples doped with 0.1% of copper and co-doped with 0.3% terbium showed the highest thermoluminescent (TL) signal in response to the irradiated dose. The analyses revealed that the glow curves of the doped samples were composed of nine overlapping glow peaks with activation energies between 0.73 and 2.78 eV. As a whole area under the glow curve, the TL signals displayed a linear dose response in the range from 110 mGy to 55 Gy. The minimum detectible dose of the samples was found to be 10.39 µGy. It was found that peaks 1 and 2 disappear after one day of storage. The rest of the peaks (3-9) remain almost constant up to 74 days of storage.