The ceramic material AlN-Y₂O₃ is proposed as a potential ultraviolet radiation (UVR) dosemeter using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermally stimulated luminescence (TL). Experimental studies have shown that AlN ceramics exhibit attractive characteristics suitable for practical UV dosimetry applications. The features are: (1) the spectral sensitivity covers the 200 - 350 nm range, in the UV-B region it is similar to that of the human skin, (2) the angular dependence of the incident radiation follows the cosine law, (3) high yields of both UVR-induced OSL and TL signals compared to those of Al₂O₃:C, and (4) a large dynamic range TL signal (5 orders of magnitude). Although there is relatively high fading, we demonstrate that AlN is a feasible material for UVR dosimetry using short integration times.

Dosimetry is a widespread material science field dealing with detection and quantification of ionizing radiation using electronic processes in materials. One of the main aspects that determines the performance of dosimeters is the type of defects the material contains. Crystalline lattice imperfections are formed around impurity ions, which may have a smaller or larger size, or different oxidation states compared to host ions. In this study, we show what effects Cr impurities have on the luminescent properties of alumina. Porous ${\mathrm{Al}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3:\mathrm{Cr}$ microceramics synthesized using the sol-gel method showed a higher thermoluminescence response than a single crystal ruby. We have found that ${\mathrm{Cr}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$ concentration of 0.2 wt% was optimal; it yielded the highest X-ray luminescence and thermostimulated luminescence readout of all studied additive concentrations added to alumina during synthesis. Our results show that Cr doped alumina could potentially be used as a promising new material for dosimetry of ionizing radiation.