Scintillation and dosimeter properties of Tb-doped strontium fluoride transparent ceramics

Luminescence properties of strontium fluoride transparent ceramics with various TbF3 amounts (0.1, 0.5, and 1 %) were investigated. Scintillation peaks derived from the electronic transitions between 4f levels in Tb3+ were observed. The observed scintillation decay times of approximately 8.3 ms were typical for the electronic transitions in Tb3+. Furthermore, the Tb-doped strontium fluoride transparent ceramics showed thermoluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) with Tb3+ serving as the recombination center. The most intense thermoluminescence signal was detected from the 0.1 % Tb-doped transparent ceramic within the range of 0.01–100 mGy. OSL stimulated by 600 nm light of the same material was the most intense, and its lowest detectable limit was about 100 mGy.