Evaluation of low energy electron beam dose application by means of a portable optical device

We present our recent development concerning the evaluation of a low energy dose application to electron beam responding materials with a simple portable optical device. Electron beam irradiation is a promising option to sterilize sensitive and high performance products or surfaces at a low temperature and without moisture. Especially in the fields of the food industry and medicine, regulations regarding sterility are increasingly tightened. Because of this, a secure proof for electron-beam-assisted sterilization is required. However, no nondestructive and in situ method exists up until now. Our approach to provide a secure proof of sterilization is to place a suitable marker material based on rare-earth-doped phosphors inside or on the top of the packaging material of the respective product. Upon electron irradiation the marker material changes its luminescence properties as a function of the applied energy dose. We verified the energy dependence by means of time-resolved measurements of the luminescence decay of an upconversion phosphor with a portable optical device. In our experimental realization, short laser pulses in the near-infrared range are triggered by a microcontrol unit (MCU) and excite the marker material. The light emitted by the marker is collected in the range between 400 and 1100 nm via a silicon photodiode, processed by the MCU, and analyzed in a Labview program via a single-exponential fit. As a main result, we observe an increasing reduction of the luminescence lifetime with higher dose applications.