Thermally Stimulated Luminescence

Thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) is a very well established experimental technique that finds use on a daily basis in several fields, ranging from radiation dosimetry, to archeological and geological dating, and to investigation of defects in insulators and semiconductors. The solution of the Schrödinger equation for electrons in a periodically varying potential shows that there are bands in energy in which the electrons are allowed to stay. The one-trap/one-recombination model so far presented and discussed is very successful in explaining the TSL features observed in real materials, namely, the shape of the detected glow peaks and their dependence upon trapped charge concentration, heating rate, and trap depth. A typical TSL recording instrument is composed by a sample chamber with a temperature controlled heating system, a light detector, and the associated electronics for signal processing. The heating system should provide reproducible and controllable heating profiles.