Comparison of blue and red TL from quartz

Following a suggestion by Scholefield and Prescott that blue and red emissions in quartz may involve the same electron traps, we have made a detailed study of blue and red TL glow peaks in some Australian sedimentary quartz samples (Scholefield, R.B., Prescott, J.R., 1999. The red thermoluminescence of quartz: 3-D spectral measurements. Radiat. Meas. 30, pp. 83–95). Allowing for thermal quenching of the blue TL, the Rapidly Bleaching Peak (at 325°C for a ramp rate of 20 K s⁻¹) and the low temperature peaks at 140–220°C appear to be identical in the blue and red. We conclude that the electron traps are the same, but that the blue and red luminescence centers probably do not occur in the same grains. On present evidence we cannot determine whether or not the Slowly Bleaching Peak (at 375°C for 20 K s⁻¹) involves the same traps in the blue as in the red. As did Scholefield and Prescott, we find no evidence of a red peak at 100°C.