X-ray dose response of calcite-A comprehensive analysis for optimal application in TL dosimetry

The effect of various annealing treatments on dosimetric characteristics of orange calcite (CaCO3) mineral has been studied in detail. Quantitative analysis on the dose response shows that the 573 K annealed sample showed sublinear dose response from 10 mGy to 1 Gy. The fading and reproducibility of this sample are also good enough for dosimetric application. However, a specific annealing treatment after irradiation shows some significant improvements in the dosimetric characteristics of the sample. The 773 K pre-annealed sample, after X-ray irradiation post-annealing at 340 K for 6 min provides linear dose response from 10 mGy to 3.60 Gy, very less fading and good reproducibility. Moreover, this sample after post-annealing at 380 K for 6 min shows linear dose response from 10 mGy to 5.40 Gy when analyzed from the ∼408 K thermoluminescence (TL) glow peak. Analysis of TL glow curves confirmed that the 1.30 eV trap center in calcite crystal is the most effective trapping site for dosimetric application.