Swift heavy ion induced thermoluminescence studies in polycrystalline aluminum oxide

Abstract

<smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="metricconverter"> When energetic swift heavy ions interact with matter, inelastic collision (leading to electronic energy loss-<i style="">S</i>_e) and elastic collision (leading to nuclear energy loss -<i style="">S</i>_n) take place. In the present study, the effect of energetic ion species on thermoluminescence (TL) of polycrystalline aluminum oxide (PAO) is reported. PAO pellets of 6 mm diameter are irradiated with energetic Au⁹⁺, Ni⁷⁺ and Si⁷⁺ ions for the fluence of 1×10¹³ ions cm^-2. A single well resolved prominent TL glow with peak at 538 K is observed in Si7+ irradiated samples. However, in Ni⁷⁺ and Au⁹⁺irradiated samples a prominent TL glow with peak at 610 K along with a shoulder at 513 K is observed. On the other hand, when PAO samples are irradiated with g-rays two well separated TL glows with peaks at 483 K and 638 K are observed. A prominent PL emission with peak at 430 nm besides a weak emission with peak at 480 nm and a shoulder at 525 nm are observed in 120 MeV Au⁹⁺ion irradiated samples when excited with 320 nm. These PL peaks are attributed to F, F₂⁺ and F₂²⁺-centers respectively. However, in Si⁷⁺ irradiated samples a single PL emission peak at 430 nm is observed and it is attributed to F-centers. </smarttagtype>