Review Modeling of the TL response of K 2 YF 5 for different concentrations of Tb 3+ ions Ahmed Kadari a,b,n , Luiz O. Faria c , Dahane Kadri d , Nicholas M. Khaidukov b a Department of Sciences of the Matter, Faculty of Science and Technology and Sciences of the Matter, Ibn Khaldoun University, Tiaret, Algeria b Department of Physics, Electronic Microscopy and Materials Sciences Laboratory (EMMSL), B.P.1505 El M'Naouar, Oran, Algeria c Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear, Av. Antonio Carlos 6627, C.P. 941, 30161-970, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil d Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Leninskii Prospect 31,119991 Moscow, Russia article info Article history: Received 17 January 2013 Received in revised form 30 May 2013 Accepted 6 June 2013 Available online 13 June 2013 Keywords: Thermoluminescence K 2 YF 5 :Tb 3+ TL math modeling Concentration quenching Radiation dosimetry abstract In this work we simulated the concentration quenching (CQ) of the thermoluminescence glow peaks of K 2 YF 5 single crystals doped with different concentrations of Tb 3+ ions, for samples irradiated with a 137 Cs gamma source. A physical model used in this study, consisting of three trapping states and one kind of recombination center, has been assumed and the set of differential equations have been integrated without additional approximations. The parameters employed in the simulation have been estimated by previous glow curve deconvolution employing the general order kinetic (GOK) model. The model succeeds to predict the behavior of the areas under glow peaks as function of Tb 3+ ions concentrations, confirming that the proposed model provides a good explanation of the concentration quenching phenomena. & 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 574 2. Experimental results ................................................................................................. 575 2.1. TL dose response .............................................................................................. 575 2.2. Concentration quenching effect .................................................................................. 575 3. Kinetic parameter determination ....................................................................................... 575 4. Modeling of the concentration quenching of TL in K 2 YF 5 :Tb 3+ .................................................................. 576 4.1. The model ................................................................................................... 576 4.2. The rate equations ............................................................................................. 577 4.3. Numerical results.............................................................................................. 577 5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 578 References ............................................................................................................. 578 1. Introduction Thermoluminescence (TL) is an extensive technique used for ionizing radiation dosimetry purposes, as the energy absorbed during irradiation and the TL intensity on stimulation (heating) are proportional to the radiation flux (doses). Among the best TL materials ever investigated, those based on alkali fluorides and alkaline-earth fluorides doped with rare earth ions, e.g. CaF 2 :Dy 3+ and K 2 YF 5 :Tb 3+ , show very high TL output after exposure to X and gamma photon fields [1–4]. Particularly, a very interesting new TL material, the K 2 YF 5 single crystals doped with 10.0 at% Tb 3+ , has been demonstrated to have a linear TL signal coefficient, for gamma doses ranging from 10 -5 to 10 -2 Gy, almost 10 times greater than that for the well known TLD-100 (LiF:Mg,Ti), irradiated at the same condi- tions, as reported in a previous work by Faria et al. [4]. They have shown in their paper the appearance of two TL peaks at 484 K and 540 K and they assumed that the presence of Tb 3+ in the K 2 YF 5 :Tb 3+ Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jlumin Journal of Luminescence 0022-2313/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jlumin.2013.06.018 n Corresponding author at: Department of Sciences of the Matter, Faculty of Science and Technology and Sciences of the Matter, Ibn Khaldoun University, Tiaret, Algeria. Tel.: +213 775955627. E-mail address: kadariahmed_14@yahoo.fr (A. Kadari). Journal of Luminescence 143 (2013) 574–578