Recovering laboratory doses using fine-grained quartz from Chinese loess

Here we report the results of dose recovery experiments carried out on fine-grained quartz from a Holocene sample in Chinese loess. Optical bleaching prior to giving a 9.35 Gy dose in the laboratory was carried out using artificial light sources, namely blue light emitting diodes (LEDs) and a solar simulator, followed by more than 24 h storage at room temperature. Stimulating the quartz with blue LEDs at room temperature resulted in overestimation of the recovered dose, whereas using the same stimulation time at temperatures above 150 °C resulted in the correct value for the recovered dose. Exposure to the solar simulator for times less than 200 min resulted in overestimation of the dose, whereas progressive underestimation was found for longer bleaching times. When doses of up 5333 Gy were given ahead of a 200 min exposure to the solar simulator, the dose recovered depended upon the magnitude of the previous dose, thus questioning the general application of a simple dose recovery experiment.