Optical dating in a new light: A direct, non-destructive probe of trapped electrons.

Optical dating has revolutionized our understanding of Global climate change, Earth surface processes, and human evolution and dispersal over the last ~500 ka. Optical dating is based on an anti-Stokes photon emission generated by electron-hole recombination within quartz or feldspar; it relies, by default, on destructive read-out of the stored chronometric information. We present here a fundamentally new method of optical read-out of the trapped electron population in feldspar.

Luminescence emission from metastable Sm2+ defects in Y PO4:Ce,Sm.

Ce(3+) and Sm(3+) both form stable defect centres in Y PO(4), and their emission properties are well known. However, by irradiating co-doped Y PO(4):Ce,Sm with x-rays or UV light the charge states of the defects can be modified to become Ce(4+) and Sm(2+), which are metastable, and their behaviour acts as a model system for understanding carrier dynamics in charge storage phosphors. Here we report on the luminescence emission behaviour of the Sm(2+) defects that can be observed after x-irradiation.

Probing electron transfer processes in YPO(4):Ce, Sm by combined synchrotron-laser excitation spectroscopy.

Yttrium phosphate co-doped with cerium and samarium acts as a charge storage phosphor, but in highly doped material (0.5% co-doping levels), the proximity of defects leads to the uncontrolled non-radiative loss of stored charge through tunnelling. In order to characterize these defects, their mutual interactions and intra-pair charge transfer routes, experiments have been undertaken in which a laser probe is deployed during luminescence excitation using a synchrotron.

Direct evidence for the participation of band-tails and excited-state tunnelling in the luminescence of irradiated feldspars.

The significance and extent of band-tail states in the luminescence and dosimetry properties of natural aluminosilicates (feldspars) is investigated by means of studies using low temperature (10 K) irradiation and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) stimulation spectroscopy, and thermoluminescence (TL) in the range 10-200 K, made in comparison with high temperature (300 K) irradiation and photo-transferred OSL and TL investigations undertaken at low temperature. These measurements allow mappings of the band-tails to be made; they are found to be ∼0.4 eV in extent in the typical materials studied.

Optically detected X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements as a means of monitoring corrosion layers on copper.

XANES and EXAFS information is conventionally measured in transmission through the energy-dependent absorption of X-rays or by observing X-ray fluorescence, but secondary fluorescence processes, such as the emission of electrons and optical photons (e.g., 200-1000 nm), can also be used as a carrier of the XAS signatures, providing complementary information such as improved surface specificity.