The preparation and thermoluminescence of alkaline earth sulphide phosphors

The present article offers a review of the material preparation and thermoluminescence (TL) of alkaline earth sulphide phosphors. Different methods of material preparation and characterization of alkaline earth sulphides in the form of polycrystalline powders, films, single crystals and pellets are described. In the process of impurity doping, the role of flux is explained. The general theory of TL and the different methods used to calculate the trapping parameters (E and s) from the TL glow curves are presented. The effects of impurities, flux, grain size, preparative parameters etc. on the TL of these materials are reported. The types of traps and trapping parameters obtained by various workers are given. Considering the results presented by various authors, possible impurity complexes are proposed. The potential applications of these phosphors in TL and OSL dosimetry, cathode ray tubes, electroluminescence panels and infrared sensors are briefly discussed.