Alpha efficiency under TL and OSL - A subtraction technique using OSL and TL to detect artificial irradiation

With the development of thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to determine the authenticity of old ceramics, forgers use artificial irradiation by gamma ray to age modern productions. Besides fraudulent action, objects can be exposed to various sources of X-rays (e.g. radiography, security control at airports). For all these reasons, the determination of artificial irradiation is an important topic for dating art objects. The main technique to identify artificial irradiations is the subtraction technique. It is based on the fact that alpha efficiency varies according to the luminescence technique (fine grain, coarse grains, predose, OSL). Having observed a rather significant difference of alpha efficiency for TL and OSL, we propose a new subtraction technique using OSL and TL of fine grains.