Influence of reducing annealing on the luminescent properties of Li2B4O7:Cu single crystals

Li2B4O7:Cu single-crystal annealing in the reducing environment results in a sharp drop of intensity of thermoluminescence (TSL) and X-ray luminescence (XL) peaks. It was suggested that during annealing in the reducing environment, an oxygen vacancy is produced in the LTB structure at the bridging oxygen atom site. Oxygen vacancy charge compensation takes place at the expense of reduction of the doping Cu+ ion to the Cu0 state. In this case the A0-type thermoluminescence center formation mechanism due to irradiation becomes impossible.