Strategies for flexibility in luminescence dating: procedure-oriented measurement and hardware modularity

In the past decade, as problems in luminescence dating have been encountered and addressed, the once simple and standard methods for measurement have been replaced with a myriad of variations, often ad hoc. As a consequence, it has become more difficult and time consuming to program the data taking, and to manage the resulting data. As methods change, new instrumentation often must be integrated into the measurement systems, usually with difficulty. We have implemented a number of approaches for improving this situation such as devising a simple but versatile scripting language for data acquisition, a means of handling arbitrary data formats, and a new modular architecture for luminescence instrumentation. The Daybreak 2AP/1 TL/OSL reader is described as an example using this architecture. We will also suggest a number of avenues that will lead to further improvements in data handling, archiving, and inter-laboratory data transfer. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.