Neutron-induced thermoluminescence of Dy3+-doped B2O3–Na2O–CaO–P2O5 glasses

Thermoluminescence (TL) materials based on Dy3+-doped B2O3–Na2O–CaO–P2O5 glasses have been developed for neutron detection. After X-ray irradiation, the TL glow peaks were observed at 360 K, and the TL intensities of the 10B- and 11B-enriched samples were similar. After neutron irradiation, a significant difference in the TL intensities was observed between the 10B- and 11B-enriched samples, which indicates that γ-rays and high-energy particles in the 10B(n, α)7Li reaction efficiently induced TL. The TL intensities derived from the 10B(n, α)7Li reaction linearly increased with neutron fluence of 106–1011 neutrons cm−2. Therefore, TL glass materials were successfully developed for neutron detection.