Quartz OSL: Effects of thermal treatment and their relevance to laboratory dating procedures

In dating procedures, whether single or multiple aliquot, OSL signals are obtained after samples have been heated in the laboratory with preheat procedures as short as a few seconds or as long as several hours. The OSL signals may be obtained whilst stimulating at a variety of temperatures. These thermal treatments will affect both the trapped electron population(s) in the material and the recombination centres (or trapped hole populations). Several effects may occur simultaneously. Experimental evidence is presented which is used to select the most appropriate thermal treatments in laboratory dating procedures.