Ultraviolet thermoluminscent dosimetry using high temperature peaks in KCl:Eu2+ crystals.

The thermoluminescence (TL) characteristics of KCl:Eu2+ irradiated with solar and monochromatic ultraviolet (UV) light have been investigated. The glow curves exhibit at least five TL peaks between room temperature and 673 K. The low temperature peaks (<500 K) are very sensitive to the UV radiation, but their intensities practically do not depend on the duration of solar irradiation and are determined by the ratio between the creation rate by UV and the bleaching rate by visible light. The high temperature 650 K peak is not so sensitive, but it is more stable under optical bleaching and its intensity increases supralinearly as exposure time increases. The creation spectrum of the 650 K peak presents a broad band with a maximum at 230 nm that extends in the long wavelength range at least up to 360 nm. The results obtained are discussed in relation to the development of a UV dosemeter with wavelength sensitivity dependence close to the action spectra of UV-related biological effects.