Understanding the Reasons for Variations in Luminescence Sensitivity of Natural Quartz Using Spectroscopic and Chemical Studies

• Natural quartz from diverse provenances exhibit variations in their luminescence sensitivity (photon flux/mg.Gy) that span over ten orders of magnitude. A range of factors (such as crystallization/recrystallization process, irradiation, thermal and optical history) that modify luminescence sensitivity have been considered to explain such differences in luminescence sensitivity. However, a clearly definable/identifiable reason is still awaited; such as, these large variations in luminescence sensitivity are related to commonly occurring luminescence quenchers/enhancers in natural quartz lattice. Towards this, quartz mineral grains extracts from different provenances and from varied depositional environments were examined spectroscopically using Fourier Transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), photoluminescence (PL), time resolved PL (TRPL) decay, thermoluminescence (TL) and the trace element analysis. The present study exhibited an anti-correlation between OSL sensitivity and water content in quartz (estimated through integrated intensity of normalized FTIR signal in the wave number region 3000-3600 cm(-1)), such that a sensitivity change of over 5 orders of magnitude corresponded to a change in integrated water absorption signal by 5 times, but in opposite direction. PL and TRPL results enabled further insights.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

defects

crystalline quartz

age-dependence

temperatures

osl

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art (ämneskategori)

ref (ämneskategori)