Neutron-induced thermoluminescence properties of Tb <sup>3+</sup> -doped Ca <sub>2</sub> B <sub>2</sub> O <sub>5</sub> ceramics
Hajime Komiya, Ichiro Kawamura, Hiroki Kawamoto, Yutaka Fujimoto, Masanori Koshimizu, Hiromi Kimura, Go Okada, Yusuke Koba, Takayuki Yanagida, Genichiro Wakabayashi, Keisuke Asai
Abstract
Abstract We fabricated 10 B-enriched ( 10 B ceramics) and 11 B-enriched ( 11 B ceramics) Ca 2 B 2 O 5 :Tb ceramics as thermoluminescence (TL) materials for neutron detection applications. The TL properties of the ceramics after X-ray irradiation, particle beam irradiation, and neutron irradiation were investigated. The TL properties of the 10 B ceramics and 11 B ceramics after X-ray irradiation were similar, whereas the neutron-induced TL intensity of the 10 B ceramics was significantly higher than that of the 11 B ceramics. The different TL properties of these ceramics are due to the α -rays, Li ions, and γ -rays generated during the 10 B( n , α ) 7 Li reaction. The lower limit of neutron detection by the ceramics was less than 2 × 10 7 neutrons cm −2 , which was lower than those of several previously reported TL materials. Therefore, these ceramics can be applied as TL dosimetry materials for neutron detection.