Neutron-induced thermoluminescence of Dy³⁺-doped Li₂O–Al₂O₃–B₂O₃ glasses

In this study, we fabricated Dy³⁺-doped Li₂O–Al₂O₃–B₂O₃ glasses using ⁶Li or ⁿLi and ¹⁰B or ¹¹B (⁶Li–¹⁰B, ⁶Li–¹¹B, ⁿLi–¹⁰B, and ⁿLi–¹¹B glasses) to develop a new thermoluminescent material for neutron detection, and their thermoluminescence (TL) properties were investigated after X-ray and thermal neutron irradiation. TL glow peaks were observed at 370 K after X-ray irradiation, and the integral values of TL intensities from 350 to 390 K for ⁶Li–¹⁰B, ⁶Li–¹¹B, ⁿLi–¹⁰B, and ⁿLi–¹¹B glasses were similar, indicating that these glasses have similar sensitivities to X-rays. A TL glow peak was observed at 400 K after neutron irradiation, and the integral values of TL intensities from 380 to 420 K for ⁶Li–¹⁰B, ⁶Li–¹¹B, and ⁿLi–¹⁰B glasses were higher than those of the ⁿLi–¹¹B glass, indicating that γ-rays and high-energy particles generated in the ⁶Li(n, α)³H and ¹⁰B(n, α)⁷Li reactions efficiently induced TL. The TL intensity of the ⁶Li–¹¹B glass was significantly higher than those of the other glasses and showed good linearity against the thermal neutron fluence in the range of 5 × 10⁷–10¹¹ neutrons cm⁻²_.