Study of formation of deep trapping mechanism by UV, beta and gamma irradiated Eu3+ activated SrY2O4 and Y4Al2O9 phosphors

This paper reports the thermoluminescence properties of Eu3+ doped different host matrix phosphors (SrY2O4 and Y4Al2O9). The phosphor is prepared by high temperature solid state reaction method. The method is suitable for large scale production and fixed concentration of boric acid using as a flux. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction technique and the crystallite size calculated by Scherer's formula. The prepared phosphor characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), thermoluminescence (TL) and Transmission Electron Microscopic (TEM) techniques. The prepared phosphors for different concentration of Eu3+ ions were examined by TL glow curve for UV, beta and gamma irradiation. The UV 254 nm source used for UV irradiation, Sr90 source was used for beta irradiation and Co60 source used for gamma irradiation. SrY2O4:Eu3+and Y4Al2O9:Eu3+ phosphors which shows both higher temperature peaks and lower temperature peaks for UV, beta and gamma irradiation. Here UV irradiated sample shows the formation of shallow trap (surface trapping) and the gamma irradiated sample shows the formation of deep trapping. The estimation of trap formation was evaluated by knowledge of trapping parameters. The trapping parameters such as activation energy, order of kinetics and frequency factor were calculated by peak shape method. Here most of the peak shows second order of kinetics. The effect of gamma, beta and UV exposure on TL studies was also examined and it shows linear response with dose which indicate that the samples may be useful for TL dosimetry. Formation of deep trapping mechanism by UV, beta and gamma irradiated Eu3+ activated SrY2O4 and Y4Al2O9 phosphors is discussed in this paper.