Fading studies in LiMgPO4:Tb,B and synthesis of new LiMgPO4 based phosphor with better fading characteristics

Lithium magnesium phosphate (LiMgPO4) based phosphors have been found to be quite promising for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosimetry. These phosphors have unique characteristic of linearity over a range of nine orders of magnitude of dose. However, the thermally stimulated luminescence (TL) and OSL signals of these phosphors fade with time. This constraint has limited the applicability of this phosphor in dosimetric application. This paper attempts to understand the cause and nature of fading. This paper also reports the synthesise of a new LiMgPO4 based phosphor with less fading.