Characterization of the glow-peak fading properties of six common thermoluminescent materials

Dose response linearity and practical factors influencing minimum detectable dose for various thermoluminescent detector types

“…The presence or absence of radon, though previously found to affect background signal, and hence " K b , in bare LiF:Mg,Ti TLDs [11], was not found to significantly affect s b . Even in TLD groups not exposed to additional radon, s b fluctuated by as much as 20 % from group to group.…”

“…In the case of LiF:Mg,Ti over a typical personnel monitoring deployment period of 30 to 90 days, the sum of peaks 4 and 5 do not fade significantly [11,12], even at high ambient temperatures up to 40°C [13]. If peaks 2 and 3 are considered as well, their fading could cause the signal actually seen to drop below the minimum detectable signal level.…”

“…[20]). Higher doses were not tested as the TLD materials used were previously shown to exhibit dose-response linearity to at least 1 Gy [11]. Lower doses could not be tested due to the relatively high strength of the source and limitations in the minimum irradiation time.…”

“…Fading effects were compensated for using the results of a previous experiment [11]. The glow curve data were obtained using the packaged TLD reader software (WinREMS version PL-26732.8.0.0.0, BICRON/Harshaw, 6801 Cochran Road, Solon, OH 44139, USA) and the glow curve separated into individual glow peaks using a computerized glow curve analysis (GCA) program [20] for a numerical computing package (MATLAB R2010b, The MathWorks Inc., 3 Apple Hill Drive, Natick, MA 01760).…”

Sorting a large set of heavily used LiF:Mg,Ti thermoluminescent detectors into repeatable subsets of similar response

“…The sensitivity determined for a set of TLDs depends not only upon the irradiation conditions (Kearfott et al, 2000), but also on environmental parameters, such as activity of the ambient radon and temperature (Harvey and Kearfott 2012). Another factor affecting TLD calibrations is signal fading Harvey et al, 2010). Reader performance, especially its stability during extended usage and the processing of large numbers of TLDs, also plays a critical role in sensitivity determinations (Samei et al, 1994;German and Weinstein, 2002).…”