7th International Conference on Matter and Radiation at Extremes (ICMRE2024)

Radio-photoluminescence (RPL) is a luminescence phenomenon which can be excited by ultraviolet light to emit light under the action of ionizing radiation, is characterized by the ability to stably store radiation signals within the material and can be read out almost without loss, thereby reducing the uncertainty of monitoring results. Compared to scintillation detectors, they are more convenient, low-energy, and thus widely used in many fields such as radiation safety monitoring, radiological medical diagnostics and treatment, industrial non-destructive detection, fluorescent nuclear track detection, and radiation imaging ^{[1, 2]}. Among the known RPL materials, research and applications related to silver-doped phosphate glass (APG) are the most mature. APG can emit orange light at 648 nm after X-ray radiation, when excited by ultraviolet light (318 nm), as shown in Fig. 1(a)-1(b), which has extremely high sensitivity (10 μGy) ^[3], sub-micron-level high spatial resolution imaging (0.7 μm) ^[4] and reusability, making it of great application value as a new generation of storage-type radiation detectors. However, due to the difficulties in relieving internal stress and vulnerability to hydrolysis in APG, the production of ultra-thin, large-size APG has always faced bottlenecks. Based on the existing technology, this paper improves the luminescence performance of APG by adjusting the raw material ratio and preparation process, and encapsulates the grounding APG powders (particles size about 30 ~ 40 μm) in ECOFLEX/RTV, using a blade coating method to prepare APG flexible film (as shown in Fig. 1(a)). The APG flexible film is not only simple to prepare, cost-effective, and unrestricted by size and thickness, but also exhibits good radiation linear response (as shown in Fig. 1(c)) and enhanced hydrolysis resistance (luminescence intensity only decreases by about 20% after soaking in water for ten days). Furthermore, the APG flexible film compensates for the lack of flexibility and extensibility in flat panel detectors, facilitating 360° surrounding X-ray imaging in industrial non-destructive detection (in pipelines, crevices, and other narrow environments) and achieving a spatial resolution of 20 lp/mm, as shown in Fig. 1(d)-1(e). Additionally, utilizing its RPL characteristics, we also conducted the information encryption storage tests on the APG flexible film, as shown in Fig. 1(f). Therefore, as a radiation storage medium with portable offline reading capabilities, accurate and stable radiation dose measurements, and high-quality radiation imaging abilities, APG flexible film offers an option for achieving portable, low-energy, comprehensive personal/ecological environment radiation detection.
 

X-ray image record,Radio-photoluminescence,Silver-doped phosphate glass,Radiation imaging