Effect of annealing temperature and dopant concentration on the thermoluminescence sensitivity in LiF:Mg,Cu,Ag material.

LiF:Mg,Cu,Ag is a new dosimetry material that is similar to LiF:Mg,Cu,P in terms of dosimetric properties. The effect of the annealing temperature in the range of 200 to 350°C on the thermoluminescence (TL) sensitivity and the glow curve structure of this material at different concentrations of silver (Ag) was investigated. It has been demonstrated that the optimum values of the annealing temperature and the Ag concentration are 240°C and 0.1 mol% for better sensitivity, respectively. The TL intensity decreases at annealing temperatures lower than 240°C or higher than 240°C, reaching a minimum at 300°C and then again increases for various Ag concentrations. It was observed that the glow curve structure altered and the area under the low temperature peak as well as the area under the main dosimetric peak decreased with increasing annealing temperature. The position of the main dosimetric peak moved in the direction of higher temperatures, but at 320 and 350°C annealing temperatures, it shifted to lower temperatures. It was also observed that the TL sensitivity could partially be recovered by a combined annealing procedure.