Neodymium as a magnesium tetraborate matrix dopant and its applicability in dosimetry and as a temperature sensor

MgB₄O₇ doped with lanthanides such as Dy³⁺ and Tm³⁺ are phosphors with very well established use in routine personal dosimetry. Certain characteristics, for example linearity in a broad dose range, low energy dependence, Z_eff=8.5, high sensitivity and a relatively simple thermoluminescent (TL) emission curve make MgB₄O₇ a good material for thermoluminescent dosimetry. With the aim of analyzing other doping possibilities, this paper presents some preliminary results on the use of Nd³⁺ as a dopant in the MgB₄O₇ matrix. Furthermore, we evaluated the effect of using two different lanthanides, Nd and Dy, in the host matrix. In the present work, the phosphors were produced through solid state synthesis and X-ray diffraction confirmed the success of the technique. The TL behavior of MgB₄O₇:Nd was assessed when irradiated with gamma (⁶⁰Co) and beta radiation, to determine the effect of the dopant concentration and the dose–response over a broad dose range. We also evaluated the dose–response of MgB₄O₇:Nd,Dy when irradiated with ⁶⁰Co. The TL responses of the phosphors were compared with that of MgB₄O₇:Dy. These preliminary studies show that for the absorbed dose range studied, the sensitivity of MgB₄O₇:Nd,Dy was 3.8 and 28 times higher than that of MgB₄O₇:Dy and MgB₄O₇:Nd. The materials also presented linearity from 5 to 40 Gy. Above this value, the dose response curve exhibited sublinear behavior. These preliminary results will assist in developing a new temperature sensor based on a MgB₄O₇ dosimeter