The thermoluminescence properties of natural CaF2 after β-irradiation

In this study, the thermoluminescence (TL) properties of natural CaF2 were investigated after β-irradiation at room temperature (RT). The additive dose (AD), Tm(Ea)–Tstop, repeated initial rise (RIR), and computerized glow curve deconvolution (CGCD) methods were used to analyze the thermoluminescence (TL) glow peaks in natural CaF2 after β-irradiation between 0.015 Gy and ≈2 kGy dose level. These methods were used to determine the number of peaks and kinetic parameters (kinetic orders b, activation energy Ea, and attempt-to-escape frequency s) associated with the thermoluminescence (TL) glow peaks of natural CaF2. The Ea–Tstop and CGCD methods indicate that the glow curve of this material is the superposition of at least six glow peaks, which were dealt with as P1–P6, in the temperature range between room temperature (RT) and 400 °C. Dose variation experiments revealed that TL glow curve of natural CaF2 has both first and general-order glow peaks. The dose responses and fading process, which are very useful in radiation dosimetry, of individual TL peaks of this material were also examined. In addition, the influence of heating rates on the response of dosimetric glow peaks of natural CaF2 was studied. It was observed that the total area of glow peak and peak intensities of all glow peaks are continuously decreasing with increasing heating rate.