Neodymium as a magnesium tetraborate matrix dopant and its applicability in dosimetry and as a temperature sensor

MgB4O7 doped with lanthanides such as Dy3+ and Tm3+ are phosphors with very well established use in routine personal dosimetry. Certain characteristics, for example linearity in a broad dose range, low energy dependence, Zeff=8.5, high sensitivity and a relatively simple thermoluminescent (TL) emission curve make MgB4O7 a good material for thermoluminescent dosimetry. With the aim of analyzing other doping possibilities, this paper presents some preliminary results on the use of Nd3+ as a dopant in the MgB4O7 matrix. Furthermore, we evaluated the effect of using two different lanthanides, Nd and Dy, in the host matrix. In the present work, the phosphors were produced through solid state synthesis and X-ray diffraction confirmed the success of the technique. The TL behavior of MgB4O7:Nd was assessed when irradiated with gamma (60Co) and beta radiation, to determine the effect of the dopant concentration and the dose–response over a broad dose range. We also evaluated the dose–response of MgB4O7:Nd,Dy when irradiated with 60Co. The TL responses of the phosphors were compared with that of MgB4O7:Dy. These preliminary studies show that for the absorbed dose range studied, the sensitivity of MgB4O7:Nd,Dy was 3.8 and 28 times higher than that of MgB4O7:Dy and MgB4O7:Nd. The materials also presented linearity from 5 to 40 Gy. Above this value, the dose response curve exhibited sublinear behavior. These preliminary results will assist in developing a new temperature sensor based on a MgB4O7 dosimeter.