Study of Optical Absorption in Gamma Irradiated Glass for Radiation Dosimetry Purpose

Optical absorption investigation in a silicate glass before and after gamma irradiation was performed in the range 350-800 nm to study the induced colour centres to evaluate this potential as radiation-sensitive material for dose measurements. The radiation induced bands are observed around 410 and 600 nm leading. The intensities of the overall absorption spectra are observed to increase progressively with increasing doses between 1 and 1200 kGy. The influence of isothermal annealing on the formation and the decay of the induced colour centres has been investigated. The activation energy characteristic of the annealing process was calculated from Arrhenius equation. The obtained values are equal to 0.251 and 0.310 eV for the 410 nm band and 0.261 and 0.353 eV for the 600 nm one. The similarity of these values for both bands suggests that the related optical transitions correspond to the same type of Non-Bridging-Oxygen Hole Centres (NBOHCs): ([equivalent]Si-O deg ) in different configurations.