Luminescence Laboratory:

Sample Preparation Laboratory
Our newly expanded sample preparation laboratory is equipped with deep-red illumination (>660 nm) to ensure contamination-free processing. The space includes two large fume hoods (one standard and one perchloric) and a spacious, double-sided workbench for opening samples, sieving, and mineral separation. Adjacent to this main area is a dedicated room for processing rock and brick samples. Key equipment in the lab includes:

• • Centrifuge for density separation of minerals
  • Precision scales
  • Two large ovens for gravimetric moisture content measurements and sample drying
  • Disposable sieve mesh and stainless-steel sieves for wet sieving, plus graduated cylinders for suspension settling of fines based on Stokes Law
  • Mortar and pestle and ball mill for gentle crushing or homogenization of sediment
  • Hi-Tech Diamond 10″ Lapidary Slab Saw for precise rock cutting
  • Hilti DD 120 portable diamond bit wet-coring drill and stand for high-precision coring
  • Buehler IsoMet Low-Speed Precision Saw with a 0.3 mm diamond wafer blade for thin sectioning
  • Dremel Stylo+ Craft variable-speed rotary tool with a 90-piece ZFE Diamond Burr Bits Drill Kit for detailed finishing work

Sample Measurement Laboratory

The laboratory is equipped with five luminescence readers, a lab-based, broad-energy gamma spectrometer, and a portable NaI gamma spectrometer.

Luminescence Readers

We operate four Risø TL/OSL Readers, equipped with advanced features for accurate luminescence dating including:

• • Sr-90 beta sources, an Am-241 alpha source, and X-ray generators for sample irradiation.
  • Blue diodes for the measurement of quartz and infrared (IR) diodes for the measurement of feldspar.
  • Blue-green and IR lasers for quartz and feldspar measurements at the single-grain level.
  • Pulsed-OSL attachments that allows measurement of pulsed optically stimulated luminescence (POSL) of polymineral samples.
  • 5 mm Hoya U-340, 2 mm Schott BG-39, 3 mm Schott BG-3, and RG-780 optical filters
  • EMI 9235QB15 photomultiplier tubes

Additionally, our Lexsyg Research Reader includes:

• • A Sr-90 beta source and Am-241 alpha source
  • An OSL excitation unit with blue, green, and IR stimulation sources for quartz and feldspar
  • A pulsed OSL unit (10 μs)
  • Optical filters that transmit 365 nm, 410 nm, 565 nm and 620 nm wavelengths
  • A standard UV-VIS photomultiplier tube
  • A red-enhanced UV-VIS photomultiplier tube
  • An LED based solar simulator unit