Characteristics of the post-blue VSL signal from sedimentary quartz

•The post-blue VSL signal can be described by three first-order components.•The first component VSL1 is naturally bleachable and reaches a low residual level.•The post-blue VSL1 signal originates from the temperature region between 370 and 390 °C.

This paper presents investigations on the post-blue Violet Stimulated Luminescence (VSL) signal in quartz and aims at describing several characteristics of this signal. It is shown that the post-blue VSL signal induced by a stimulation at 405 nm after a preheat treatment at 260 °C for 10 s can be described by three first-order components. The first component (VSL1) is naturally bleachable and reaches a low residual level (around 11 Gy for the sample analyzed in this study). Furthermore, solar simulator experiments allow to demonstrate that this component is characterized by a high bleaching decay rate. The origin of the signal was investigated through TL experiments which suggest that the post-blue VSL signal is mainly associated with traps thermally stimulated at 375 °C. Additional results about the measurement parameters (temperature of stimulation, normalization process, preheat temperature) are also reported and discussed.