Quartz OSL: Effects of thermal treatment and their relevance to laboratorydating procedures

In dating procedures, whether single or multiple aliquot, OSL signals are o btained after samples have been heated in the laboratory with preheat. proc edures as short as a few seconds or as long as several hours. The OSL signa ls may be obtained whilst stimulating at a variety of temperatures. These t hermal treatments will affect both the trapped electron population(s) in th e material and the recombination centres (or trapped hole populations). Sev eral effects may occur simultaneously. Experimental evidence is presented w hich is used to select the most appropriate thermal treatments in laborator y dating procedures. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.