An improved radiofluorescence single-aliquot regenerative dose protocol for K-feldspars

Measuring the infrared radiofluorescence (IR-RF) signal of K-feldspars, which is thought to be not affected by any anomalous fading, potentially provides a promising alternative dating approach to the more studied IR and pIRIR signals. Here we report a series of experiments aimed at characterising the IR-RF signal, which led us to propose an improved IR-SAR (Infrared Radiofluorescence Single-Aliquot Regeneration) protocol. In comparison with the original protocol from Erfurt and Krbetschek (2003a), the proposed one relies on IR-RF signal measurements and bleaching experiments conducted at elevated temperatures. Stabilising the temperature at 70 °C during the measurements helps keeping the very shallow traps empty during the process. Internal protocol tests and dating applications are presented using known age samples. We show that the improved protocol (named RF₇₀) is capable to reproduce known age results within uncertainties. However, considering the slow bleaching rate of the RF₇₀ signal, the multi-grain approach is likely not the most suitable for the D_e determination of complex samples.