The determination of activation energy from the shape of a thermoluminescence peak

A new set of expressions have been derived to evaluate the thermal activation energy, E, of a thermoluminescence (TL) peak. The order of kinetics, b, of the peak may be first order (b = 1), second order (b = 2) or general order for which we have taken b = 1.5 as an example. The expressions derived by us involve temperatures at which the intensity of the peak is 1/2, 2/3, 4/5 of the maximum and/or the peak temperature (Tsub(m)). The applicability of these expressions has been checked by applying them to some typical experimental TL peaks. The value of E determined by using these new sets of expressions is in good agreement with that found by curve fitting. (author)