Study of the 110 °C TL peak sensitivity in optical dating of quartz

Abstract

As the 110 °C TL emission in quartz uses the same luminescence centers as the OSL emission, the 110 °C TL signal from a test dose may be used to monitor the OSL sensitivity change. It is thus important to study the relationship between the 110 °C TL peak and the OSL sensitivity in studies related to optical dating from quartz. We have conducted a series of experiments using sedimentary quartz, where the annealing temperatures were varied between 260 and 1000 °C before the measurement of OSL and 110 °C TL sensitivities. Another series of experiments on two sedimentary quartz samples investigated the 110 °C TL peak and OSL dose-dependent sensitivity change after different annealing temperatures. In these experiments, the 110 °C TL and OSL signals from the test dose are shown to have similar sensitization characteristics: the 110 °C TL sensitivity change is proportional to the OSL sensitivity change if the annealing temperature is lower than 500 °C. It is concluded that the 110 °C TL signal can be used to correct the OSL sensitivity change in the single-aliquot additive-dose protocol.