  The decay of luminescence emitted by an activated natural calcite sample
after being excited by longwave ultraviolet light (370 nm) has been measured
and analyzed. The time evolution of the light intensity did not follow a single
exponential decay. Rather, a distribution of decay-times was inferred via the
extraction of a fit parameter characterizing the nature of the observed
stretched exponential decay, herein referred to as the beta parameter. In
conjunction with the average wavelength of the emitted light as well as its
average decay-time, the beta parameter may serve as an important predictor of
the nature, concentration and spatial homogeneity of the activators (and
possible quenchers) within the calcite sample.
