Equivalent dose of quartz originating from ceramics obtained by OSL SAR method – Tests of protocol parameters

In the standard OSL dating procedure, the OSL signal is measured at 125 °C. For quartz samples from bricks the presence of traps responsible for the 160 °C and 200 °C TL peaks has an influence on the OSL process, just like the one for the traps responsible for the 110 °C TL peak. In order to examine the significance of this disturbance for dating results, a series of measurements of D_e was carried out for various temperatures of the OSL readout in SAR protocol. For most samples, significant fluctuations of D_e values were obtained, especially at temperatures above 90 °C. Also the analysis of OSL components carried out for curves obtained at different measurement temperatures shows that the TL traps active up to 200 °C make the OSL process more complex. The measurement at 125 °C does not assure the exclusion of shallow traps from the OSL process. A reasonable solution of this problem may be the choice of temperatures below the range of dominant TL peaks, in the SAR protocol for OSL measurements. - Highlights: • 160 °C and 200 °C TL traps in quartz from brick influence the OSL process at 125 °C. • The D_e from SAR protocol for brick samples depends on OSL measurement temperature. • OSL component analysis for different measurement temperatures is presented. • Lower temperature of OSL readout in SAR protocol for quartz from bricks is suggested.