Scintillation and TSL properties of MgF2 transparent ceramics doped with Eu2+ synthesized by spark plasma sintering

We have developed MgF2:Eu transparent ceramics using spark plasma sintering (SPS) and investigated the photoluminescence (PL), scintillation and dosimeter properties. Under X-ray irradiation, intense peaks appeared at 390 and 430 nm in all the samples. They were attributed to the 5d-4f transitions of Eu2+ and some kinds of defect centers generated by doping with Eu2+, respectively. The scintillation decay times of the emissions at 430 nm for the 0.01, 0.02, 0.05 and 0.1% Eu-doped samples were 21.1, 20.9, 18.6 and 23.4 ms, respectively. Furthermore, all the samples showed a thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) over 120-250 °C. The TSL response was very sensitive to irradiation dose and showed a good linearity from 0.01 mGy to 100 mGy. The TSL emission measured at 170 °C was only by the luminescence band at 430 nm due to defect centers.