A method for routinely monitoring the reproducibility of thermal pretreatment prior to optically stimulated luminescence measurements

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Abstract

Thermal pretreatments are used prior to optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements in methods of dose determination, but the reproducibility of such heating appears to be poor within laboratories, and between laboratories. Monitoring the position of the 110°C thermoluminescence (TL) peak in quartz can be used to routinely assess the reproducibility of heating within a repeated set of measurements on an aliquot (e.g. during the single aliquot regenerative dose protocol) providing feedback on whether changes in sample preparation can improve reproducibility. Poor reproducibility between measurements from a single aliquot are likely to arise from grains between the hotplate and sample holder. Variability between aliquots may also be affected by deformed sample holders. Differences between readers may also be caused by differences in the calibration of the hotplate. Reproducibility of heating can be improved within runs, and between instruments, by taking care to avoid loose grains, by removing deformed sample holders, and if necessary by calibrating hotplates. It is suggested that individual aliquots should only be accepted if the apparent 110°C TL peak temperature within a sequence of measurements varies by 5°C or less. Improving the reproducibility of thermal treatment is important in reducing scatter in equivalent dose determinations based on OSL from quartz, but also for signals such as TT-OSL from quartz, and the various feldspar luminescence signals. Temperature control is also critical for accurate kinetic analyses
Original languageEnglish
Article number106210
JournalRadiation Measurements
Volume130
Early online date25 Nov 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01 Jan 2020

Keywords

  • quartz
  • OSL
  • thermal lag
  • equivalent dose determination
  • precision
  • Precision
  • Equivalent dose determination
  • Quartz
  • Thermal lag

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