Influence of thermal treatment on OSL regeneration in potassium chloride

• Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) of potassium chloride (KCl) was studied.
• The measurements were performed using the variable delay OSL method (VD-OSL).
• It was found that regeneration of OSL intensity in KCl could be as high as 2000%.
• Annealing caused reduction of OSL renewal for crystals and its increase for pellets.
• Preheating after irradiation removed or significantly reduced the OSL regeneration.

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) of pure analytical potassium chloride (KCl) prepared in two different forms (crystals and pellets) was studied. The occurrence of regeneration effect (self-renewal of the OSL signal) in the material was examined. The experiments using the variable delay OSL (VD-OSL) method were carried out. Performed measurements allowed to determine time scale of the phenomenon, as well as quantitative changes of regeneration depending on thermal treatment before and after irradiation. Significant increase of the OSL regeneration was noticeable for pellets after the application of the annealing before irradiation, while for crystals a substantial decrease of regeneration was observed. Preheating applied after irradiation caused that self-renewal of OSL signal was drastically reduced or completely suppressed depending on the form of KCl samples.