Trap spectroscopy of quartz by the fractional glow technique

Abstract The thermoluminescence (TL) of natural α-quartz crystals has been studied. The fractional glow technique in the temperature range 300–600 K has been used to retrieve the energy density of traps from TL glow curve of four samples irradiated by X- and γ-rays at room temperature. The presented glow curves and histograms of trap density depend on the type of irradiation. The averaged density spectrum after X excitation is a Gaussian-shaped band with maximum at 1.25 eV and half-width of about 0.15 eV. For γ-irradiation, it has an exponential shape with maximum at about 1.7 eV. Results of our investigation confirm that the mechanism of defect creating by radiation determines TL properties of quartz.