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Updated: Aug 18, 2025

Isolation of Quartz Grains for Optically Stimulated Luminescence OSL Dating of Quaternary Sediments for Paleoenvironmental Research
Published on: August 2, 2021
Trap Parameters for the Fast OSL Signal Component Obtained through Analytical Separation for Various Quartz Samples
Magdalena Biernacka1, Alida Timar-Gabor2,3, Zuzanna Kabacińska3
1Institute of Physics, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, ul. Grudziądzka 5, 87-100 Toruń, Poland.
Abstract:
Trap stability is essential in luminescence dating and thermochronometry. Trap depth and frequency factors determining the stability of the fast component of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) in quartz, which is the most important in dating, have yet to be uniquely determined, especially for samples with an OSL signal not dominated by this component. One can determine them in OSL thermal depletion curve (OTDC) experiments. The separation of the fast OSL signal undisturbed by other OSL components is vital for obtaining accurate parameters for the traps of interest. This work presents a method of simultaneous thermal and optical stimulation using red light (620 nm) to separate the fast OSL component (the thermally modulated OSL method-TM-OSL). The OTDC experiment with the TM-OSL stimulation was used for the trap parameter determination on a variety of quartz samples, leading us to report for the first time, the trap parameters for the fast OSL component analytically separated in quartz from rock samples. The results obtained for these samples with the fast component of low intensity are consistent with those with an intensive fast OSL component. Results of OTDC measurements for all investigated quartz samples were tested for a wide range of irradiation doses.

