Investigation of thermoluminescence of natural zircon relevant to dating application

The thermoluminescence (TL) characteristics of natural zircons from Vietnam were studied for potential application to TL dating. All the glow curves of samples irradiated by gamma radiation or UV light showed a complex structure that consisted of a low temperature part (LTP) and a high temperature part (HTP). The TL emission spectra and monochromatic glow curves indicate that the two main impurities governing the TL emission are Dy3+ (LTP) and Tb3+ (HTP). The anomalous fading of the TL signal was assigned to the emission associated with Dy3+ whereas the 545 nm emission associated with Tb3+, exhibits significantly lower fading and consequently more suitable for TL dating.