β Scribed by S.A. Durrani; Y.M. Amin
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Almraet--Many of the minerals used for archaeological dating employing thermoluminescence (TL) exhibit anomalous fading to some extent. It is known for zircon that radiation damage, caused by the decay of uranium and thorium present in it as impurities, adversely affects the TL sensitivity as well as its ability to store natural TL. We have investigated the effects of radiation damage on the anomalous fading of TL in zircon, and find that all zircons, whether natural or artificially produced, exhibit anomalous fading of TL. Such fading is aggravated by radiation damage, but is reduced on annealing the damaged crystal, thus providing strong evidence for a link between radiation damage and anomalous fading'in zircon. We have measured the spectral composition of the TL, and find that in highly damaged zircons the rate of anomalous fading is a function of the wavelength of the TL glow. The effects of varying the storage temperature and dose-rate have also been investigated.
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