NON-UNIVERSALITY OF THE TL-LET RESPONSE IN THERMOLUMINESCENT LIF - EFFECT OF BATCH COMPOSITION

A question of some importance to one's understanding of the use of TLD-LiF in various radiation fields is whether, by excluding all the experimental factors mentioned, one arrives at a universal TL-LET response for all types of LiF, i.e., is the relative TL production efficiency also dependent on unidentified chemical or physical characteristics of the LiF such as Mg or Ti or other co-activator concentrations or on the concentration of other impurities not usually associated with the TL process. The authors have attempted to investigate this question by measuring the relative TL production efficiency in several different batches of LiF using meV neutrons and alpha particles. Careful attention has been made to minimisation of some experimental and instrumental factors mentioned, and to standardisation and control of the other factors.