On the effect of optical and isothermal treatments on luminescence signals from feldspars

•CW-IRSL and CW-OSL measurements are preceded by heating or optical bleaching.•New analytical equations are derived to describe these double experimental procedures.•Equations are compared with data from a feldspar sample following isothermal procedure.•Equations are compared with data from a feldspar sample following optical bleaching.

During luminescence dosimetry and luminescence dating applications it is often necessary to precondition the geological samples by applying a thermal or optical treatment before measuring the luminescence signal. In luminescence applications using apatites or feldspars, measurement of continuous-wave infrared or optically stimulated signals (CW-IRSL and CW-OSL) are customarily preceded by either an isothermal heating of the samples at a fixed temperature for a short time interval, or alternatively by optically bleaching the samples using light from LEDs with the appropriate wavelength. This paper presents new analytical equations which can be used to describe these commonly employed double experimental procedures. The equations are based on a recently published model which assumes that tunneling processes are taking place in random distributions of donor–acceptor pairs. The concentration of charge carriers during the CW-IRSL or CW-OSL experiment is expressed in terms of the parameters of the preceding thermal or optical bleaching procedure, and depends also on the distribution of distances between electron and hole pairs. The analytical equations in this paper are compared with experimental data from a feldspar sample which undergoes an isothermal procedure followed by measurement of the CW-IRSL signal. Additional comparisons with experiment are provided using a feldspar sample which undergoes an infrared bleaching process, followed by measurement of the CW-OSL signal. These results and conditions under which the equations can be used are discussed within the framework of the model.