Studying the thermoluminescence of limestone minerals in the vicinity of Shirpur Fort, India for dosimetric applications

Thermoluminescence (TL) is a well-established and very sensitive technique for estimating the concentration of luminescent centers in solids. Many minerals have been investigated for thermoluminescent properties to date. The present investigation deals with the thermoluminescence study of the limestone mineral. We collected the limestone mineral from the historical place Shirpur Fort at Pathri village near Vani region of Yavatmal district in Maharashtra state, India and crushed it for a few minutes to make fine powder of it. This crushed fine powdered sample is then used for further characterization. The sample was irradiated by a ⁶⁰Co γ-ray irradiation source. After irradiating this sample thermoluminescence study was carried out. From the study, it was found that the TL glow curve shows a single trap located around 265°C. The study shows that this sample shows TL intensity on very high exposure. Moreover, the sample shows linearity in the TL glow curve with the exposure rate. So, this sample might be useful in high-dose dosimetric applications in TLD.