PROJECT
Title :Study the properties of thermoluminescence of phosphors for low
dose gamma radiation dosimetry.
Incandescence - When any material is heated some amount of energy is
emitted in the form of light(visible range) this phenomenon is known as
incandescence. e.g Burning of coal, tungsten filament ,etc
Luminescence- When radiation is incident on material it absorbs that
radiation and remit it with higher wavelength (visible light ).This
phenomenon is known as Luminescence.
There are two types of luminescence
Fluorescence – The process in which the incident radiation is absorb by
the material and immediate re-emission of light with higher wavelength.
This emission is immediate because when radiation is incident on material
the electrons from valence band are excited and jump to the conduction
band and within 10^-8 s (characteristic time)they de-excite and come to
the valence band but due to the difference between the energy of valence
and conduction band electron loss some energy in the form of photon and
that emission of light is known as fluorescence.
Phosphorescence - when incident light is absorb and re emit for a more
than few microseconds to the years and it continues after removing the
light source this is known as phosphorescence
There are too many types of luminescence as well depending upon the
incident light source which shows both fluorescence and phosphorescence
One of the most useful luminescence type is
Thermoluminescence-When previously irradiated wide band gap
material is heated, it emits light of visible wavelength .This phenomenon
is known as thermoluminescence.
Mechanism of thermoluminescence
When light is incident on wide band gap material in which we had already
created the trapping centres at metastable energy level so after shining
the light ,electrons get excited from valance band to conduction band
after few nanoseconds it comes down and trap in the vacancies which are
below the conduction band these vacancies are created by doping rare
earth materials so this previously irradiated material when heated ,this
trapped electrons get excited from trapping centres to the conduction
band after a few nanoseconds it recombine with the recombination
centres but due to the energy difference between the metastable energy
level and recombination energy level some energy is loss and that
energy is emitted in the form of photon having the wavelength of visible
range and this emission is continue for long periods.
Interaction of Gamma radiation with matter
1) Photoelectric effect -when 0.1 to 0.5 MeV energy Gama Photon is
incident on the atom the Total energy of gamma Photon is absorb by K
shell or bound electrons and this electron is ejected with kinetic energy
equals the difference between the energy of incident Photon and binding
energy of electron this is known as Photoelectric effect. After ejection of
electron vacancy is created this is fill by outermost electrons so due to the
transition of electron from outer shell to inner shell Photon is emitted that
is the known as characteristic x-ray this is shown in the lower Z atoms but
for high Z elements instead of photon The Lost energy is given to the
electron and this electron is ejected from the outermost shell of the atom
that is known as a auger electrons
Probability of Photoelectric effect is depend upon the atomic number z so
for lower Z Photoelectric effect