MICROCHARACTERIZING ZIRCON MINERAL GRAIN BY IONOLUMINESCENCE COMBINED WITH PIXE

When MeV ions impinge on certain materials, UV, visible and/or near IR light is emitted. In an on-going project this process, ionoluminescence (IL), is combined with mu-PIXE at the Lund nuclear microprobe facility, and applied to microcharacterization of geological materials. The IL method is unique in obtaining chemical information that is not readily available with other IBA techniques. Use of IL microscopy and spectroscopy is demonstrated in this paper. The origin of intrinsic and extrinsic ionoluminescence, especially IL from rare earth elements (REE) are discussed. The possibility of performing IL microscopy to study mineral growth zoning structures and to locate inherited core assisting ion-probe for detailed age dating is discussed. We intend to demonstrate that combine with other IBA methods ionoluminescence is a powerful microcharacterization method in geosciences.