On infrared stimulated luminescence at elevated temperatures

Infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) is described by Hutt et al. [Quat. Sci. Rev. 7,381-385 (1988)] as a thermo-optical process. However, no data have yet been published to explicitly show the effect of temperature upon the IRSL process. Three experiments are described. The first involves heating the sample to 450°C and monitoring the IRSL signal every 10°C to see how the temperature of the sample affects the magnitude of the IRSL signal. Secondly, a sample is kept at a specific temperature (ranging from 25 to 200°C) and exposed to infrared radiation (IR) for 1000 s. The IRSL is continuously monitored, and the remaining thermoluminescence (TL) measured. This clearly shows the effect of temperature upon the total amount of TL that is affected by the IR. A further experiment was carried out to see how the total amount of IRSL that is obtained from a sample varies with the temperature at which it is measured. The implications of these experiments are far reaching both for the theoretical basis of IRSL and its application as a geochronological method.