Modeling of the thermoluminescence mechanisms in ZrO2

In this paper, simulations of thermoluminescence experiments are carried out using the comprehensive model for thermoluminescence cited in the literature by several authors, for both natural and laboratory irradiated aliquots. In the present work, we propose a possible, alternative model to explain the thermoluminescence (TL) process in zirconium oxide (ZrO2). The model includes four trapping states and one recombination center (4T1C model). The aim of the present study is to present a model that, by using as guess values the parameters obtained by employing the GOK model, fits very well the experimental glow curve. It is a goal point that the physical model does not need to resort to the quasi-equilibrium approximation. The results of these simulations are in general qualitative agreement with the experiments and confirm that the proposed model in this study presents a good explanation of these phenomena. A linear behavior was also observed between the response and dose range from 1×109 to 9×109 cm−3.