LAUSR

Abstract In this work we systematically investigated undoped and lanthanide(Ln)-doped MgO with diverse dopant combinations, MgO:Ce,Ln and MgO:Tb,Ln, where Ln=Eu, Yb, Tm, Sm, Dy, Nd, as well as the same combinations with an additional 3 mol% Li dopant. We characterized the thermoluminescence (TL), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), radioluminescence (RL), TL emission spectra and OSL emission spectra. Our investigation indicates that Ce3+ and Tb3+ act as recombination centers and their characteristic spectra are observed under thermal or optical stimulation. Conversely, TL measurements suggests that Sm3+, Tm3+ and Yb3+ probably act as electrons traps. The role of Li was investigated, since it was found to increase the RL, TL and OSL intensities in MgO. As part of the present investigation, we identified promising OSL materials sensitive to ionizing irradiation with distinct luminescent properties.