Thermoluminescence study of Cu, Ag and Mn doped lithium tetraborate single crystals and glasses

Spectrally resolved thermoluminescence (TL) of non-doped and Ag, Cu− and Mn-doped lithium-tetraborate (LTB) single crystals revealed that TL emission bands for differently doped samples proved to be at different wavelengths: 272, 370 and 608 nm, respectively. These bands perfectly agree with the photoluminescence (PL) emission bands of Ag+, Cu+ and Mn2+ ions. It strongly points that these dopants are directly involved as recombination centers in the TL process.TL characteristics of non-doped and doped LTB single crystals and the corresponding glassy samples showed that their TL intensities and the structures of the glow curves were apparently different.

► 3D-TL technics were used for revealing TL emission bands for LTB:Ag, LTB:Cu and LTB:Mn.
► Bands at wavelengths 272 nm, 370 nm and 608 nm, respectively, were found.
► Dopant ions are involved in the TL process as recombination centers.
► Glow curves of non-doped and doped single crystals and glassy samples were taken.
► Based on the results the possible schemes of TL processes were proposed.