Thermoluminescence (TL) studies of quartz sample collected from Meghalaya for radiation dosimetry

This study focuses on the investigation of the TL behavior of the quartz sample that was collected from Khonglah, West Jaintia Hills District in Meghalaya. The sample was crushed into powdered sizes (10–100 µm) and heated to reset the trap structures prior to irradiation. Characterization techniques, such as XRD and EDS, were performed to analyze the structure and elemental composition of the prepared sample. The sample shows a trigonal structure with a hexagonal lattice arrangement. Intrinsic defects and impurity centers, such as Al, Mg, and Mn, were present in the sample. TL glow curve analysis was performed after gamma irradiation with different doses (10–70 Gy). With a gamma dose of 50 Gy, the sample showed a well-resolved glow curve with four intense peaks at 201°C, 238°C, 302°C and 350°C. Deconvolution of the peaks was done by using CGCD software and calculation of different trap parameters like the order of kinetics (b), activation energy (E), and the frequency factors (s) of the fitted glow curve was performed by Peak’s shape method. These results suggested that natural quartz from Meghalaya exhibits promising dosimetric characteristics due to its good TL response with gamma dose and can serve as a reliable and cost-effective material for personal and environmental radiation monitoring.