Radiation Measurements 46 (2011) 1336e1341

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Radiation Measurements
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/radmeas

Optically stimulated luminescence: A brief overview

S.W.S. McKeever*
Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, 203 Whitehurst Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The use of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) in radiation dosimetry has been conditioned by the
Received 18 October 2010 availability of suitable dosimetry (OSLD) materials. The crucial property dictating the suitability of
Received in revised form a material as an OSLD is the material’s defect structure. This paper reviews some of the recent devel-
23 February 2011
opments in radiation dosimetry that have been enabled by knowledge of the charge trapping and
Accepted 24 February 2011
recombination processes occurring in OSLD materials during irradiation and stimulation. Although many
materials have been and are currently being studied, this short review focuses on just two, namely
Keywords:
carbon-doped aluminum oxide (Al2O3:C) and europium-doped potassium bromide (KBr:Eu). The defect
Optically stimulated luminescence
Thermoluminescence
structure and trapping/recombination mechanisms in these materials have led to application in several
Trapping areas of radiation dosimetry and dose imaging. Two recent areas of development are in space dosimetry
Recombination (for Al2O3:C) and in medical dosimetry (for KBr:Eu). This overview briefly describes these latter modern
Radiation dosimetry applications and relates the functionality of the OSLDs to their basic defect properties.
Space dosimetry Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Medical dosimetry
Al2O3:C
KBr:Eu

1. Introduction
The genesis of the use of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)
and thermoluminescence (TL) in radiation dosimetry can be found
in some of the earliest scientific literature, at a time when consensus
about the “scientific method” was just emerging. Sir Robert Boyle’s
famous treatise on color contains a description of a “glimmering
light” from a piece of natural diamond when heated (Boyle, 1664).
Today this phenomenon is known throughout our community as
thermoluminescence and, although Boyle’s experiments predated
the discovery of radiation by more than two centuries, the use of TL
in radiation dosimetry is now firmly established. What is perhaps
less well known is that the origins of the phenomenon that we now
label optically stimulated luminescence can be found in the 19th-
century French scientific literature, due to the combined work of
Edmond and Henri Becquerel (Becquerel, 1843, 1883). The subject of
the Becquerels’ studies was phosphorescence and on several occa-
sions they described how this form of luminescence can either be
increased or decreased (quenched) by illuminating an irradiated
sample (infra-red phosphor) with visible light. These latter studies
appeared at the beginnings of science’s fascination with radiation
and its effects but before the birth of quantum mechanics and thus
an understanding of electron and hole trapping and recombination
was certainly not available. Even so, one has to admire the notions
put forward by Weidemann and Schmidt who, as early as 1895,
talked about their ‘electric dissociation’ theory involving the sepa-
ration of positive and negative charges as being the origin of the
phenomenon that they christened “thermoluminescenz”
(Wiedemann and Schmidt, 1895). This appears to be the first pub-
lished use of the modern word. However, we had to wait until the
1960s to see the first use of the phrase “optically stimulated lumi-
nescence” when it was used by Fowler in a discussion of lumines-
cence radiation dosimetry methods in medicine (Fowler, 1963).
Developments over the past two or three decades in OSL and TL
dosimetry have led to the application of these techniques in many
radiation dosimetry fields, including personal, environmental,
retrospective, space, neutron and medical dosimetry. Not all of these
applications can be discussed sensibly in one short review. Instead
the focus of this article is to demonstrate how a fundamental
understanding of the charge trapping and recombination processes
in Al2O3:C and KBr:Eu, at both phenomenological and structural
levels, has lead to confidence in the use of these techniques in two
particular applications, namely space and medical dosimetry.
2. OSL materials

Carbon-doped aluminum oxide was developed initially as a TL

* Tel.: þ1 4057446501; fax: þ1 4057446244. dosimeter in pioneering work at the Urals Polytechnical Institute in
E-mail address: stephen.mckeever@okstate.edu. Russia (Akselrod et al., 1993, 1990). The extreme sensitivity of the

1350-4487/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.radmeas.2011.02.016
 S.W.S. McKeever / Radiation Measurements 46 (2011) 1336e1341 1337

material to radiation (i.e. a large TL signal for a small absorbed dose)

made this material very attractive for use as a radiation dosimeter.
The high sensitivity was due to the creation of a large concentration
of oxygen vacancy centers in the material during the crystal growth
process. The oxygen vacancy centers (F- and Fþ-centers) acted as
recombination sites yielding a bright emission. The source of the
trapping sites was not known. A potential difficulty with the mate-
rial was its sensitivity to visible light, giving rise to light-induced
fading of the TL signal (Moscovitch et al., 1993). By taking advantage
of this apparent disadvantage, however, the material could be made
into an efficient OSL dosimeter by using light rather than heat to
stimulate the radiation-induced luminescence signal (Akselrod
et al., 1998; McKeever, 2001; McKeever and Akselrod, 1999). Since
then, Al2O3:C has gone on to become the foremost OSL dosimetry
material, seeing use in a multitude of dosimetry applications.
OSL from europium-doped alkali halides was first used as
a technique in medical imaging (Douguchi et al., 1999; Nanto et al.,
1993). The sensitivity of the OSL from this material is due to exci-
tation and relaxation of Eu2þ ions. More recently, the very rapid
decay of the OSL from irradiated KBr:Eu raised the potential of this
material being used in real-time dosimetry during medical radio-
diagnostic and radiotherapeutic procedures (Gaza and McKeever,
2006; Klein and McKeever, 2008; Klein et al., 2006). Develop-
ment in these applications continues.
In each of the above materials, the key to successful application
lies in an understanding of the defect structure and the electron-
hole trapping and recombination processes, even though many
details are still lacking. Although a significant amount is known
about the emission centers in both materials, the identity of the
traps is still unknown. Nevertheless, even a phenomenological
understanding of the OSL process can lead to useful insight and
confidence in the application.

2.1. Al2O3:C
When grown in a reducing atmosphere Al2O3 single crystals can
be produced with high concentrations of F, Fþ, F2 and F2þ oxygen
vacancy centers giving the material a high OSL sensitivity (Akselrod
et al., 1993; Itou et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2009). The main emission
from such material is centered near 420 nm due to relaxation of the
3P state to the 1S state of the F-centers, with a luminescence lifetime
of w35 ms. An additional emission band is observed near 330 nm
due to the de-excitation of the 1B state to the 1A state of Fþ-centers,
with a much shorter lifetime <7 ns (Yukihara and McKeever, 2006).
Weaker emission can be observed at 500 nm due to F2-centers (Itou
et al., 2009). After irradiation a broad OSL excitation band is gener-
ated between approximately 600 nm to less than 260 nm, with no
apparent peak (Whitley and McKeever, 2000). The broad excitation
band is suggestive of multiple traps being emptied by the stimula-
tion light in this wavelength range and this suggestion is supported
by OSL (Whitley and McKeever, 2000), thermally stimulated
conductivity (TSC) (Whitley et al., 2002) and TL analyses (Akselrod
and Akselrod, 2002), all of which demonstrate the existence of
many trapping centers for both electrons and holes.
In addition to the pre-existing concentrations of F- and Fþ-centers,
further such centers are induced by irradiation. The radiation-
induced populations undergo interconversions as F-centers are con-
verted to Fþ-centers and vice-versa during heating (and presumably
during optical stimulation). These population changes are coincident
with the emission of TL (or OSL; Fig. 1), which is caused by either
electron recombination with holes at Fþ-centers yielding 420 nm
emission, or hole recombination at F-centers yielding 330 nm emis-
sion. The multiplicity of trapping and emission centers leads to
complex and sample-dependent TL and OSL characteristics. It is this
very complexity that can be exploited to advantage in certain
Fig. 1. Changes in the F- and Fþ-center concentrations (top) in Al2O3:C as a function of
heating after irradiation (1 kGy 60Co gamma at room temperature) followed by heating
at a rate of 1  C/s. The optical densities were monitored at 205 nm (F) and 255 nm (Fþ),
with a spectral band width of 2 nm. Changes in the background were subtracted from
each curve. Thermoluminescence (bottom) recorded at 0.33  C/s for two separate
samples of Al2O3:C following irradiation. The steps in the color center data are
approximately correlated with the TL peaks and the F- and Fþ-data are anti-correlated.
The downward steps in the Fþ-center data indicate the release of electrons from traps
and their subsequent recombination with Fþ-centers to form F-centers. Likewise, the
upward step in the Fþ-center data and corresponding downward step in the F-center
data, suggest the release of trapped holes. Unpublished data, courtesy of Dr. J.C. Polf;
samples provided by Dr. M. S. Akselrod.
dosimetry applications, as discussed in Section 3. Nevertheless, for
the moment we highlight the fact that the presence of shallow elec-
tron traps can lead to a thermal instability in the OSL sensitivity that
needs to be eliminated. Thus, great effort is expended in growing OSL
crystals without shallow traps (Akselrod et al.,1998). Deep traps are of
both polarities, electrons and holes. Changes in the populations of
these centers can result in sensitivity increases or decreases, and
supralinearity or linearity in the dose response curves. Solutions to
rate equations for complex kinetic models, which include a plethora
of traps (electron and hole, deep and shallow) with pre-existing
recombination sites, lead to an acceptable prediction of behaviors of
the different Al2O3 samples that have been described in the literature
(Pagonis et al., 2007; Yukihara et al., 2003). Thus, the broad features of
the OSL from Al2O3:C are documented and understood.
2.2. KBr:Eu
Potassium bromide doped with divalent europium exhibits OSL
emission at w420 nm due to the 4f65d-4f7 transition in Eu2þ ions.
The OSL stimulation maximum is at 620 nm corresponding to
1338 S.W.S. McKeever / Radiation Measurements 46 (2011) 1336e1341

Fig. 2. (a) Normalized OSL curves from Al2O3:C LuxelÔ detectors obtained by irradiating
with 90Sr:90Y beta particles over two orders of magnitude of dose, as indicated. The OSL
Fig. 3. (a) OSL efficiency values (with respect to 90Sr:90Y beta irradiation) for Al2O3:C
was stimulated with green light at room temperature using a Risoe TL/OSL-DA-15 reader
LuxelÔ dosimeters obtained following irradiations with energetic heavy charged
with three Hoya U340 filters of 2.5 mm of thickness (transmission band centered at
particles. The measurements were performed using the system described in the
340 nm and a full width at half maximum of w80 nm) for the light detection. Apertures of
caption for Fig. 2 and the OSL signal was obtained by integrating over the whole
different sizes were used to decrease the luminescence as the dose increased. The curves
stimulation period (Yukihara et al., 2006). (b) Ratio between the Fþ- and F-center
have been normalized at the initial value to demonstrate the change in curve shape and
components of the OSL spectrum of Al2O3:C LuxelÔ detectors for various particle/
increased decay rate as the dose increases (Yukihara et al., 2004a). (b) Normalized OSL
energy combinations (Yukihara et al., 2006). The measurements were taken using
curves for different charged particles, as indicated. b e 90Sr/90Y; He e 144 MeV/u
a modified pulsed OSL system described by Yukihara and McKeever (2006).
(2.26 keV/mm H2O); C e 390 MeV/u (10.8 keV/mm H2O); Si e 469 MeV/u (55.5 keV/mm
H2O); Fe e 464 MeV/u (189 keV/mm H2O) (Yukihara et al., 2004b).
than that for Al2O3, were able to describe the macroscopic properties
of the OSL from KBr:Eu including sensitivity changes during
absoprtion by F-centers (neutral Br-vacancies) (Douguchi et al., repeated use caused by electron transfer between trapping states.
1999; Nanto et al., 1993; Pedroza-Montero et al., 2000). The gener-
ally accepted view is that electrons are trapped at Br-vacancies to 3. Applications
produce F-centers and holes are trapped at Eu2þ ions to produce
Eu3þ ions. During optical stimulation, electrons are released from In both of the above examples the basic landscape of the trap-
the F-centers, recombining with the Eu3þ ions to produce excited ping and recombination processes and the charge traffic during
Eu2þ ions and subsequent 420 irradiation and stimulation is understood to a level at which the
nm emission as the Eu2þ ions relax (lifetime w1.13 ms) (Nanto et al., application of the two materials in certain radiation dosimetry
1993; Sosa et al., 1995). However, alternative views have been areas can be made with some confidence. Nowhere is this more
proposed (Pedroza-Montero et al., 2000) and the details are yet to be explicit than in the complex radiation fields that are found in space
determined. Shallow traps again cause an instability in the OSL from in low Earth orbit, or in radiation medicine.
this material, to the extent that the OSL signal fades enough for it not
to be of use in conventional OSL dosimetry in which the OSL signal is 3.1. Al2O3:C in space dosimetry
recorded some time after the exposure event (possibly days later).
Klein and McKeever (2008) examined the relationship between TL The complexity of the OSL process in Al2O3:C presents this
and OSL in this material and, using a kinetic model much simpler material with some useful OSL characteristics when exposed to
 S.W.S. McKeever / Radiation Measurements 46 (2011) 1336e1341
Fig. 4. OSL, RL and timing gates for measurements of OSL from KBr:Eu in real time during proton irradiation. The RL data shows the individual proton pulses during each proton
spill. The OSL is recorded during a 50 ms gate between the RL gates, synchronized with the proton pulses. The irradiations were performed at the Loma Linda University Medical
Center using 250 MeV protons. The dosimeter was placed in the center of the beam line in a water phantom at a depth of 30.9 am to the surface of incidence. The energy of the
protons at this depth is approximately 60 MeV. The data are from Klein and McKeever (2008) using the fiber optic system described by Gaza and McKeever (2006).
energetic heavy charged particles, as may be found in typical space
radiation fields. The space radiation environment consists of a mix
of medium- to high-energy charged particles, from electrons to
heavy ions such as Fe. The absorbed dose is dominated by medium-
to high-energy electrons and protons of low linear energy transfer
(LET), whereas the dose equivalent contains a substantial compo-
nent from both primary and secondary heavy ions of high LET and
secondary neutrons (Benton and Benton, 2001). A particular
property of Al2O3:C is that when exposed to increasing doses of
low-LET radiation (e.g. gamma or beta) the OSL decay curve
changes shape as the dose increases, becoming faster (Fig. 2(a)).
The cause of this phenomenon is the different filling rates for the
multiple traps contributing to the OSL signal and the complex
kinetics within the system (Yukihara et al., 2004a). A consequence
is that when irradiated with charged particles the OSL decay curve
shape depends upon the dose deposition profile and, therefore, on
the energy and LET of the particle (Fig. 2(b)). This in turn provides
the ability to use the OSL signal from this material as an “LET meter”
in which the change in the OSL curve shape depends upon the
particle’s incident LET (Sawakuchi et al., 2008). Furthermore, the
efficiency of the OSL production for a given high-LET charged
particle, compared to that from (say) low-LET beta irradiation, is
either greater than, equal to, or less than one, depending on the
particle’s LET. Example data are shown in Fig. 3(a). Furthermore, we
note that the OSL decay curve shape also depends upon the emis-
sion wavelengths monitored during the measurement. Thus, the
ratio of the OSL from F-centers to that from Fþ-centers is seen to be
LET-dependent (Fig. 3(b)). A result of these observations is that
when Al2O3:C is irradiated with a single particle type, its OSL can be
used to determine the LET of the irradiating particles as well as the
absorbed dose and dose equivalent. When irradiated in a mixed
particle field the OSL from Al2O3:C can be used to determine the
total absorbed dose by determining a “mean LET” value and cor-
recting for the mean efficiency of the particles (Gaza et al., 2006).
However, determination of the dose equivalent is only possible if
used in combination with a spectrometric detector, such as a plastic
nuclear track detector, wherein the high-LET components (say
>10 keV/mm) can be separated from the low-LET components.
3.2. KBr:Eu in medical dosimetry
A feature of OSL from Al2O3:C is that the photoionization cross-
section of the traps, at the wavelengths used for OSL stimulation, is
quite low such that the OSL decay during trap emptying is slow.
1339
Typically, several tens of seconds are needed to empty the traps.
When coupled with the long luminescence lifetime from F-centers
(35 ms) this makes the OSL from Al2O3:C a sluggish system not
conducive to rapid readout processes. Although attempts to use
Al2O3:C as a real-time dosimeter have been reported (Gaza et al.,
2005) this material’s application in medical dosimetry is normally
as an integrating dosimeter in which radioluminescence (RL) is
monitored during irradiation of the patient, but OSL is reserved for
dose verification after the irradiation (Andersen et al., 2006, 2007).
To enable a true real-time OSL dosimeter, rapid readout of the OSL
compared to the irradiation rate is needed.
In contrast to Al2O3:C, the OSL from KBr:Eu when stimulated
with red light is extremely quick, with a typical OSL decay (trap
emptying) period of w25 ms. Along with the fast luminescence
lifetime (w1.1 ms) this rapid readout of the OSL signal (and, there-
fore, dose) lends itself to be used in “real-time” dosimetry in which
the OSL (dose) is probed repeatedly during continual exposure of
the sample. In this way dose information can be obtained during
Fig. 5. Real-time OSL data from KBr:Eu for computed tomography X-rays using the
system described in Fig. 4 (Gaza and McKeever, 2006). These data were obtained
during a helical computed tomography (CT) chest scan of a RandoÒ phantom con-
taining the KBr:Eu fiber probe. The CT chest scan conditions were: 120 kVp@ 340 mA;
10 mm beam collimation; patient table travel speed ¼ 13.5 mm/rotation; rotation
speed ¼ 0.7 s/rotation; pitch ¼ 1.35:1. The data were recorded at the University of
Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. The OSL measurements were taken at 10 Hz, i.e. 10
independent OSL measurements per second. The dose increases as the patient table
approaches the plane of rotation of the source and decreases as the site of the
dosimeter passes though and beyond the plane of rotation. The general increase and
decrease, however, is modulated due to absorption as the source passes underneath
the table and phantom. The areas under the curve (A1,2,3) vary between scans by just
1.4% (Klein, 2008).
1340 S.W.S. McKeever / Radiation Measurements 46 (2011) 1336e1341
the irradiation and changes in the dose rate in temporally varying
fields can be easily followed. Examples of the use of the material in
this fashion were recently demonstrated for proton beams and for
computed tomography (CT) X-rays (Gaza and McKeever, 2006;
Klein and McKeever, 2008; Klein et al., 2006, 2010) and illustra-
tive data are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In the former example, the dose
due to an individual spill of protons can easily be measured and the
dose repeatedly determined during the irradiation period (Fig. 4).
In the latter example, spatially and temporally varying X-ray fields
during a CT scan can also be followed and monitored enabling both
quality assurance for the CT system and dose verification for the
patient (Fig. 5).
4. Summary and conclusions
Luminescence dosimetry has come a long way since the “glim-
mering light” was first observed by Sir Robert Boyle, and the curious
after-glow quenching phenomena observed by the Becquerels.
Modern applications of OSL are at the forefront of the challenges
within dosimetry, namely the dosimetry of energetic-charged
particles in space, and the complex, rapidly varying (both in time and
location) radiation fields experienced during modern radiotherapy
and radiodiagnosis. However, while normally considered to be
simply an integrating dosimetry method, luminescence dosimetry
can be used in these complex fields to obtain dose information that
accounts for the different efficiencies of the multitude of charged
particles found in space, and the localized time-varying fields found
in radiation medicine.
The key to having confidence in using OSL in these different
dosimetry theaters is to understand at least the broad parameters
of the actual charge trapping and recombination processes occur-
ring within the material during irradiation and stimulation. The
stable OSL signal from Al2O3:C with its multiple contributions from
an array of trapping centers, and its two primary recombination
centers, enables the use of this material as an integrating dosimeter
in the complex environment of space. In contrast, although the OSL
signal from KBr:Eu is unstable and fades at room temperature, the
rapid OSL decay in this material and its apparently much simpler
process of OSL production lends itself to use in real-time moni-
toring of dose as a function of time in rapidly varying fields. Al2O3:C
could not be used in the latter application, and KBr:Eu could not be
used in the former.
The overall intent of this short review has been to highlight the
need for an understanding, as much as possible, of the OSL
production mechanisms in potential OSLD materials, and to illustrate
with examples how this type of knowledge enables confident use of
two OSLD materials in two entirely different dosimetry applications.
Studies of basic processes and mechanisms are as important today as
they were at the birth of luminescence dosimetry. New applications
will undoubtedly follow the accumulation of this fundamental
knowledge.
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful for the work and insights of many
colleagues, too numerous to mention, that have contributed over the
years to many of the advances in OSL dosimetry described above,
including former students, postdoctoral colleagues and interna-
tional collaborators. Special personal thanks and appreciation,
however, go to colleagues Mark Akselrod and Eduardo Yukihara.
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