Optical dating is a new

and as yet at experimental stage

technique for the direct dating of sediments. As in the TL dating

the zeroing mechanism in optical dating is exposure to light. While in TL dating the paleodose is measured by heating the minerals

in optical dating this is done by exposing the minerals to monochromatic light

e. g. the 514nm green wavelength emitted by an argon ion laser. In optical dating

the light is used to measure the trapped electron population

an which only the electrons accumulated in light-sensitive elec-tron traps and assumed to be completely emptied by sunlight during the process of deposition

are measured. Thus

the zeroing problem can be basically solved by sunlight bleaching in the sediment dating.