Chapter 4 - Dose Dependence of Thermoluminescence (TL) and Optically Stimulated Luminescence with Uniform Excitation

Abstract

This chapter discusses dose dependence of thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence with uniform excitation. An ideal dose behavior for dosimetry and dating is a linear dependence in a broad range of doses. The TL dose dependence of β -irradiated quartz is described in the chapter. The dose dependence curve is linear in a broad range, excluding the lowest doses where the TL starts increasing at a small rate with the dose, and the rate increases gradually until it reaches a steady value, which prevails over a broad dose range. The dose dependence function of thermoluminescence (TL) is normally an increasing function, which, ideally, starts linearly and then goes sublinear when the TL maximum intensity approaches a saturation value. It is found that for the applications in dosimetry and archaeological and geological dating, linear dose dependence is desirable because the determination of the unknown dose imparted is simplified under these circumstances. It is observed that at high doses of excitation, the dose dependence behavior is usually of approaching saturation. It is suggested that the measured TL following excitation for a given set of trapping parameters within the present model depends on the competition processes during both the excitation and the heating of the sample.