Thermally and optically stimulated luminescence correlated processes in X-ray irradiated KCl:Eu²⁺

The effect of optical bleaching on thermoluminescence (TL) and thermal bleaching on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) outputs in X-ray irradiated KCl:Eu2+have been investigated. The X-ray induced glow curves reveal three main peaks located at 370, 410 and 470 K. Illumination with 560 nm light leads to a drastic change of the TL glow curve. The 470 K peak is destroyed during bleaching. The other peaks initially increase in intensity and only after sufficiently long bleaching begin to decrease. After long-time bleaching, the TL peaks in X-ray irradiated crystals look like the TL peaks found in UV irradiated crystals. The effect of thermal bleaching on OSL is also very pronounced. The temperature dependencies show a step-by-step decrease of the OSL intensity correlated with the positions of the TL peaks. The result obtained shows that centers responsible for the TL peaks participate in OSL, but this participation seems not to be direct and is complicated by processes accompanying the F center bleaching. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.