title: Thermoluminescence solid-state nanodosimetry--the peak 5A/5 dosemeter.
abstract: The shape of composite peak 5 in the glow curve of LiF:Mg,Ti (TLD-100) following (90)Sr/(90)Y beta irradiation, previously demonstrated to be dependent on the cooling rate used in the 400°C pre-irradiation anneal, is shown to be dependent on ionisation density in both naturally cooled and slow-cooled samples. Following heavy-charged particle high-ionisation density (HID) irradiation, the temperature of composite peak 5 decreases by ∼5°C and the peak becomes broader. This behaviour is attributed to an increase in the relative intensity of peak 5a (a low-temperature satellite of peak 5). The relative intensity of peak 5a is estimated using a computerised glow curve deconvolution code based on first-order kinetics. The analysis uses kinetic parameters for peaks 4 and 5 determined from ancillary measurements resulting in nearly 'single-glow peak' curves for both the peaks. In the slow-cooled samples, owing to the increased relative intensity of peak 5a compared with the naturally cooled samples, the precision of the measurement of the 5a/5 intensity ratio is found to be ∼15% (1 SD) compared with ∼25% for the naturally cooled samples. The ratio of peak 5a/5 in the slow-cooled samples is found to increase systematically and gradually through a variety of radiation fields from a minimum value of 0.13±0.02 for (90)Sr/(90)Y low-ionisation density irradiations to a maximum value of ∼0.8 for 20 MeV Cu and I ion HID irradiations. Irradiation by low-energy electrons of energy 0.1-1.5 keV results in values between 1.27 and 0.95, respectively. The increasing values of the ratio of peak 5a/5 with increasing ionisation density demonstrate the viability of the concept of the peak 5a/5 nanodosemeter and its potential in the measurement of average ionisation density in a 'nanoscopic' mass containing the trapping centre/luminescent centre spatially correlated molecule giving rise to composite peak 5.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Ben Gurion University, Beersheva, Israel.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fuks
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Horowitz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Horowitz
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Oster
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marino
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rainer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosenfeld
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Datz
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D012666:Semiconductors; D013819:Thermoluminescent Dosimetry / Q000295:instrumentation*