Solid-state and solar sintering of YAP:Mn,Hf ceramics applicable for thermoluminescent dosimetry

• Solid-state and solar sintering of YAP:Mn,Hf ceramics.
• The effect of Hf-codoping for charge compensation of Mn2+ ions in YAP is proved.
• A common solid-state sintering allows to obtain efficient YAP:Mn2+ TL phosphor.

The paper reports on the (Mn, Hf)-doped YAP (YAlO3) ceramics sintered by the solid-state method and under concentrated solar radiation at temperature up to 1860 °C. The obtained ceramic samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and the luminescent techniques including radioluminescence at X-ray excitation, photoluminescence and thermoluminescence. Thermoluminescent properties of the materials were studied from the point of view of their possible application in thermoluminescent dosimetry of ionizing radiation. Effect of sintering gas atmosphere and Hf-codoping is discussed.