Since its first discovery in the 1950s, thermoluminescence dating (TL) has been giving archeologists much needed help dating the age of ceramic artifacts, which often contain thermoluminescent minerals (such as fluorite).

Who invented thermoluminescence?

During the 1970s and 1980s scientists at Simon Frasier University, Canada, developed standard thermoluminescence dating procedures used to date sediments. In 1985, they also developed optically stimulated luminescence dating techniques, which use laser light, to date sediments. How does Luminescence work?

How is thermoluminescence created?

An input of energy, such as heat, is required to free these trapped electrons. When a specimen is reheated, the trapped energy is released in the form of light (thermoluminescence) as the electrons escape. The amount of light produced is a specific and measurable phenomenon.