A study of thermoluminescence emission spectra and optical stimulation spectra of quartz from different provenances

The present study examines (1) variability in the thermoluminescence (TL) e mission spectrum and optical stimulation (OSL) spectrum of quartz from diff erent provenances and, (2) possible correlations between spectral features and the nature of the complex growth curves (ranging from saturating expone ntial to those described by a cubic polynomial Function), so as to determin e the validity of the currently used experimental protocols. The results su ggest that commonly used UV emission for dating constitutes only a minor co mponent of the total quartz emission and in view of this a dose-dependent c ontribution from blue/blue-green emission peak to the UV detection is likel y. The OSL stimulation spectrum shows a definite change in stimulation resp onse between 500-520 nm, hence implying that stimulation in this window may contribute as an additional source of scatter in multi-grain samples, (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.