Pre-gamma dose thermoluminescence characteristics of muscovite mica

In the present research work, sensitization characteristics of the 180 °C thermoluminescence peak of muscovite mica have been studied. The sensitization factor (S/S0) as a function of post-irradiation heat treatment, pre-dose and duration of heat treatment has been investigated. A pre-dose of 2 kGy followed by heat treatment at 500 °C for 1 h is found to be the optimum condition for sensitizing the muscovite samples. The thermoluminescence glow curve structure of unsensitized and sensitized mica is nearly the same but a great improvement in the sensitivity has been observed after sensitization. The thermoluminescence response curves for unsensitized and sensitized mica samples exhibit linear behavior in the range 5–25 kGy. Analysis of the thermoluminescence glow curves and calculation of trapping parameters (activation energy and frequency factor) for individual deconvoluted peaks for 25 kGy gamma irradiated of unsensitized and sensitized mica have been done using glow curve deconvolution software.