Thermoluminescence response of synthetic (CVD) diamond to beta and gamma radiation

The thermoluminescence (TL) response of ten CVD diamond samples has been investigated using beta and gamma radiactive sources with radiation exposure covering the dose interval from 60 mGy to 3.5 Gy. The reproducibility and sensitivity of the TL response have been evaluated in view to use CVD diamond as a radiation dosimeter. The linearity of the TL response versus dose has been tested by deconvoluting the glow curve peaks. A first order kinetics was found to be followed by all the analysed curves. The activation energy related to the main peak, isolated by post-irradiation annealing, is of the order of 1 eV. The relative trap concentration increases linearly with dose. The complex structure of the glow curves before annealing has also been deconvoluted to determine the activation energies and frequency factors for the other TL peaks.