The Luminescence Research Laboratory investigates the thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated (OSL) properties of a variety of natural and synthetic materials suitable for use in personal and environmental dosimetry. Special emphasis has been laid in the development of OSL techniques using natural materials and ceramics in retrospective accident dosimetry and in archaeological and geological dating.
The OSL signals from quartz and feldspar minerals separated from building materials such as bricks, tiles and porcelain have been studied using different stimulation light sources with the aim of assessing the accumulated doses absorbed in the material. The development of new measurement protocols based on the so-called "single-aliquot regenerative-dose" method has enabled doses in quartz lower than 20 mGy to be measured with a precision better than 2 %. New OSL measurement systems are under continuous development and recently a X-Y scanning system using a focused laser beam to stimulate single sand sized grains of a multiple coarse grain sample has been designed for retrospective dosimetry and dating. This new technique allows the estimation of dose in samples that have not been fully zeroed by daylight or heat, prior to recording an environmental dose. The Luminescence Research Laboratory is also the worlds leading supplier of automatic OSL/TL measurement equipment. This equipment is specifically designed for luminescence research and applications, especially in accident dosimetry and geological and archaeological dating.
External links
The Nordic Centre for Luminescence Research
The Luminescence Dating Laboratory, Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, UK
Optically and Thermally Stimulated Phenomena Laboratory, Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, USA