Simulation of the experimental pre-dose technique for retrospective dosimetry in quartz.

The pre-dose technique of thermoluminescence for quartz has been used extensively for retrospective dosimetry of quartz and other natural materials. A recently published model that is a modification of the well-known Zimmerman theory is used here to simulate the complete sequence of experimental steps taken during the additive dose version of the pre-dose technique. The results of simulation show how the method can reproduce accurately the accumulated dose or paleodose received by the sample. The solution of the kinetic differential equations elucidates the various electron and hole processes taking place during the experimental pre-dose procedure and shows clearly the mechanism of hole transfer from the reservoir to the luminescence centre caused by heating to the activation temperature. The numerical results show that the pre-dose technique can reproduce the paleodose with an accuracy of +/- 1-5%, even when the paleodose is varied over more than an order of magnitude. New quantitative results are presented for the effect of the test dose and of the calibration beta dose, beta, on the accuracy of the pre-dose technique. The conclusions drawn from the simple model for quartz can be used to make improvements to more general quartz models.