• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.202-211
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• 2001

Luminescence is a physical phenomenon exhibited by many non-conducting, crystalline materials, such as quartz and feldspar. Within the crystals, energy absorbed from ionising radiation frees electrons to move through the crystal lattice and some are trapped at defects in the lattice. Observable luminescence is produced by electrons, released from traps by stimulation by absorption of light, which recombine with lattice defects which act as luminescence centers - optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). In a similar way to thermoluminescence(TL) dating, controlled measurement of the OSL signal can provide a means of determining the time since the last exposure of a layer of sediment to sunlight, the age of the sediment. However, whereas in the thermoluminescence dating of sediment only part of the latent thermoluminescence signal is bleached by sunlight as the sediment is deposited and allowance must be made during the laboratory measurements for the light insensitive component, optically induced luminescence dating has the advantage of working only with light sensitive traps in the crystal. Determination of the time since deposition of Quaternary sediment samples from the OSL of quartz grains using blue light was performed. A series of experiments and recent developments relating OSL dating are described, beginning by identifying the features which make OSL signals suitable for the development of dating method. Additionally, there are suggestions as to future research for obtaining reliable ages and a comment on current best practice on procedures, with the dating results of Quaternary sediment.