Theoretical evaluation of calibration factor for CR-39 track detector for alpha radioactivity measurement in natural water

Das, B. K.; Deb, Argha

doi:10.1016/j.radphyschem.2021.109511

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 37 publications

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“…One of these uses is as a solid-state nuclear-track detector (SSNTD). Since its conceptual inception as a particle detector around sixty years ago 1 – 3 it has been employed in medical research and biology 4 , 5 , neutron dosimetry 6 – 8 , space physics 9 – 11 , nuclear physics 12 – 14 , laser-matter interactions and ion acceleration 15 – 25 , as well as in fusion experiments with deuterium–tritium 26 – 32 or proton-boron fuels 33 – 42 , to name a few. In the demonstration of fusion energy output exceeding the laser energy on target (scientific breakeven or Q > 1) in December 2022 43 , CR-39 was used–among other detectors–to measure the fusion neutron yield at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) 7 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differentiating multi-MeV, multi-ion spectra with CR-39 solid-state nuclear track detectors

Schollmeier,

Bekx,

Hartmann

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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The development of high intensity petawatt lasers has created new possibilities for ion acceleration and nuclear fusion using solid targets. In such laser-matter interaction, multiple ion species are accelerated with broad spectra up to hundreds of MeV. To measure ion yields and for species identification, CR-39 solid-state nuclear track detectors are frequently used. However, these detectors are limited in their applicability for multi-ion spectra differentiation as standard image recognition algorithms can lead to a misinterpretation of data, there is no unique relation between track diameter and particle energy, and there are overlapping pit diameter relationships for multiple particle species. In this report, we address these issues by first developing an algorithm to overcome user bias during image processing. Second, we use calibration of the detector response for protons, carbon and helium ions (alpha particles) from 0.1 to above 10 MeV and measurements of statistical energy loss fluctuations in a forward-fitting procedure utilizing multiple, differently filtered CR-39, altogether enabling high-sensitivity, multi-species particle spectroscopy. To validate this capability, we show that inferred CR-39 spectra match Thomson parabola ion spectrometer data from the same experiment. Filtered CR-39 spectrometers were used to detect, within a background of ~ 2 × 1011 sr−1 J−1 protons and carbons, (1.3 ± 0.7) × 108 sr−1 J−1 alpha particles from laser-driven proton-boron fusion reactions.

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