Variations in luminescence properties of single quartz grains and their consequences for equivalent dose estimation

In this paper examples of variability of luminescence properties between single grains of quartz extracted from natural samples or from crushed single crystals are shown. It is demonstrated how measurements of glow curves, PSL (photon stimulated luminescence) decay curves, thermal activation characteristics using multi-grain aliquots can lead to a misinterpretation of the obtained data. The possible consequences for different D_E estimation techniques applied to multi-grain aliquots or to single grains and normalisation techniques applied to multi-grain aliquots are discussed. In particular pre-dose, multi-aliquot additive, and single grain PSL SAR D_E estimation methods are considered.