Luminescent Materials for Radiation Dosimetry

The nuclear technology has widespread peaceful applications in our daily life. Advancements, such as synchrotrons and accelerators, mark nuclear technology’s progress. However, the indiscriminate use of ionizing radiation underscores the need for safety procedures and worker monitoring. It is important to minimize the stochastic effect and prevent deterministic effects due to ionizing radiation for occupational workers. Hence, radiation doses of individuals are monitored to ensure the compliance with the dose limits stipulated by regulatory bodies, which also helps to follow the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principle, the basic philosophy of radiation protection. Solid-state luminescence dosimetry has emerged as a most viable option to assess the doses of radiation workers. This article highlights the efforts made by BARC, in the recent few years, to synthesize new TL/OSL phosphors. A global shift to OSL-based dosimetry led to synthesizing various dosimetry-grade OSL phosphors. Dosimetry grade luminescent phosphors span applications from personnel monitoring to radiation therapy and archaeology. These phosphors also attempt to address challenges arising in neutron dosimetry, tissue-equivalent materials, and space dosimetry.