Dependence of Luminescence Lifetimes on Measurement Temperature and Thermal Activation Energy from Quartz using a Time-Resolved Pulsing System

Luminescence is the light emitted from previously irradiated materials when exposed to light of certain wavelength or temperature. One important technique of luminescence is time-resolved optical stimulation of luminescence (TR-OSL). This technique is well known for the study of luminescence from quartz, feldspar, carbon doped aluminium oxide, etc. These materials are of interest in dosimetry. Time resolved optical stimulation is carried out by separating in time the stimulation and emission of luminescence. The luminescence is obtained from the sample using a short pulse of light and the emission of the luminescence is monitored. Here, a new pulsing system based on light emitting diode is designed and is used to study the dependence of luminescence lifetimes on measurement temperature in quartz. The Luminescence lifetimes measured decreased with measurement temperature from 40.4 ± 0.9 µs at 20 0C to 14.8 ± 1.8 µs at 200 0C. The dependence of luminescence lifetimes on measurement temperature in quartz was due to thermal quenching at high temperature. Thermal quenching is the decrease of luminescence because of increased non-radiative transitions at high temperature. The activation energy of thermal quenching was also investigated. The value of the activation energy for thermal quenching for quartz was evaluated as 0.67 ± 0.05 eV.