Test for quasi-equilibrium in thermally stimulated luminescence and conductivity

The uncertainty about the existence of quasi-equilibrium (QE) condition during the readout of thermoluminescence and thermally stimulated conductivity glow peaks in real materials causes doubts about the validity of applying the QE-based analytical expressions to analyse these glow peaks. In this paper a simple method is given to verify the QE condition during the readout of these glow peaks in real materials. The method is based on changes in the glow peak shapes caused by changing the heating rate in non-QE cases. It is illustrated by using synthetic glow peaks derived from two different physically meaningful models.