A new quartz for γ-transfer calibration of radiation sources.

Quartz grains extracted from aeolian sand (LexCal2014) are tested for suitability as transfer material for radiation source calibration. After thermal pre-treatment, this quartz exhibits luminescence and dose-response properties which appear appropriate for transfer calibration purposes with little dependence of recovered β-dose on preheat temperature in the single aliquot (SAR) procedure and satisfying performance in β-dose recovery (0.98-1.00 given/measured β-dose for various experiments). Additional support is obtained by SARA and interpolation procedures, where OSL-data from γ-dosed LexCal2014 is interpolated on data obtained for zeroed LexCal2014 quartz, which is β-irradiated by the source to be calibrated. Initial results on fine-grain material agree with the coarse grain results presented. The γ-dose of 3.00 ± 0.07 Gy is administered in a scatter-free geometry at the IAEA/WHO Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL) of the Helmholtz Zentrum München, with absorbed dose calculations obtained by Monte Carlo simulations

Contact-free investigation of the EL2-defect in the surface of GaAs wafers

The EL2 as the most important intrinsic defect in semi-insulating GaAs was already deeply studied in the past. All investigation methods applied so far to semi-insulating GaAs explore the entire depth of the sample and are therefore not suitable to analyse e.g. influences of surface treatments. In this work the detection of EL2 in the surface of samples by the application of microwave detected photo induced current transient spectroscopy will be presented. A correlation between height and sign of the signals and the concentration of acceptors, furthermore of the compensation ratio of the EL2, the position of the Fermi level as well as the specific resistivity was found. The results can be simulated by solving rate equations for the measurement process

XLUM:An open data format for exchange and long-term preservation of luminescence data

Abstract. The concept of open data has become the modern science meme, and major funding bodies and publishers support open data. On a daily basis, however, the open data mandate frequently encounters technical obstacles, such as a lack of a suitable data format for data sharing and long-term data preservation. Such issues are often community-specific and best addressed through community-tailored solutions. In Quaternary sciences, luminescence dating is widely used for constraining the timing of event-based processes (e.g. sediment transport). Every luminescence dating study produces a vast body of primary data that usually remains inaccessible and incompatible with future studies or adjacent scientific disciplines. To facilitate data exchange and long-term data preservation (in short, open data) in luminescence dating studies, we propose a new XML-based structured data format called XLUM. The format applies a hierarchical data storage concept consisting of a root node (node 0), a sample (node 1), a sequence (node 2), a record (node 3), and a curve (node 4). The curve level holds information on the technical component (e.g. photomultiplier, thermocouple). A finite number of curves represent a record (e.g. an optically stimulated luminescence curve). Records are part of a sequence measured for a particular sample. This design concept allows the user to retain information on a technical component level from the measurement process. The additional storage of related metadata fosters future data mining projects on large datasets. The XML-based format is less memory-efficient than binary formats; however, its focus is data exchange, preservation, and hence XLUM long-term format stability by design. XLUM is inherently stable to future updates and backwards-compatible. We support XLUM through a new R package xlum, facilitating the conversion of different formats into the new XLUM format. XLUM is licensed under the MIT licence and hence available for free to be used in open- and closed-source commercial and non-commercial software and research projects.CREDit - Chronological REference Datasets and Sites (CREDit) towards improved accuracy and precision in luminescence-based chronologie