Luminescence and optical studies on X-ray irradiated RbCl:Tb3+ crystals

This paper reports thermoluminescence and other optical studies on RbCl:Tb3+ crystals irradiated with X-rays. Terbium is found to enter the host matrix in its trivalent state. Photoluminescence studies of these crystals exhibit characteristic Tb3+ emissions due to transitions from the 5D3 and 5D4 levels to various levels of the 7F septet. The presence of the characteristic emission due to Terbium ions in the photostimulation at the F band confirms the participation of Tb ions in the defect production process and in the thermoluminescence process. Thermoluminescence emission spectra exhibit the characteristic emissions of Tb3+ in addition to the recombination of the F electron with V-type centres. An energy level diagram is developed to indicate the recombination processes.