Environmental Radiation Monitoring Using Radiophotoluminescence in Silver-Doped Phosphate Glass

Optical properties such as optical absorption and radiophotoluminescence (RPL) spectra of silver (Ag+)-doped phosphate glass before and after x-ray irradiation were investigated in this study. It is found that the RPL spectrum consists of two emission bands which are peaked at 2.70 eV (460 nm blue emission) and 2.21 eV (560 nm yellow emission). It is also found that RPL emission intensity gradually increases with x-ray irradiation dose. From the results it is suggested that origin of each 460 nm and 560 nm RPL emission band is ascribed to Ag0 ion and Ag2+ ion, respectively, which are produced by x-ray irradiation. The application of the RPL phenomenon in Ag-doped phosphate glass to the environmental natural radiation monitoring is also demonstrated.