Nuclear Track Detectors for Environmental Studies and Radiation Monitoring

Abstract

Several improvements were made for Nuclear Track Detectors (NTDs) used for environmental studies and for particle searches. A new method was used to determine the bulk etch rate of CR39 and Makrofol NTDs. It is based on the simultaneous measurement of the diameter and of the height of etch-pit cones caused by relativistic heavy ions (158 A GeV Pb(82+) and In(49+) ions) and their fragments. The use of alcohol in the etching solution improves the surface quality of NTDs and it raises their thresholds. The detectors were used for the determination of nuclear fragmentation cross sections of Iron and Silicon ions of 1.0 and 0.41 GeV/nucleon. These measurements are important for the determination of doses in hadron therapy and for doses received by astronauts. The detectors were also used in the search of massive particles in the cosmic radiation, for the determination of the mass spectrum of cosmic rays and for the evaluation of Po(210) alpha decay and of natural radon concentrations.

arXiv comment7 pages, 5 EPS figures. Presented at the 10th Topical Seminar on Innovative Particle and Radiation Detectors, 1-5 October 2006, Siena, Italy

References in corpus (4)

• Final results of magnetic monopole searches with the MACRO experiment
• Nuclearite search with the MACRO detector at Gran Sasso
• Bulk Etch Rate Measurements and Calibrations of Plastic Nuclear Track Detectors
• Fragmentation cross sections of 158 A GeV Pb ions in various targets measured with CR39 nuclear track detectors

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Fragmentation cross sections of Fe^{26+}, Si^{14+} and C^{6+} ions of 0.3-10 A GeV on polyethylene, CR39 and aluminum targets
• Fragmentation cross sections of Fe^{26+}, Si^{14+} and C^{6+} ions of 0.3-10 A GeV on CR39, polyethylene and aluminum targets
• The nuclear track detector CR39: results from different experiments