IDENTIFICATION OF CHARGED HEA YPARTICLES,AND I RADIATION MEASUREMENTS USING SOLID STATE NUCLEAR TRACK DETECTORS

Abstract

CR-39 polycarbonate particles track detector was found to own unique properties determined by the chemical and physical structure of CR-39 polycarbonate. This plastic has been successfully applied to recorder nuclear charged particle of ZIP- values from 6 to 100 and is found to have wide applications in different fields of dosimetry, spectroscopy, environmental science, cosmic rays, geophysics and its applications and using in radiation measurements due to its high sensitivity. Also, their applications have been extended to autoradiography of radioactive materials and realize particle cartography.

This thesis attempts to contribute to the understanding of the properties of plastic detectors in order to apply them to the study of problems in nuclear physics and dosimetry, specially, the methods of particle identification.

It includes a brief of historical developments and basic information concerning the solid state nuclear track detectors and some important applications which used this type of detectors. The track formation models and etchable track formation criteria were discussed, also the properties of these types of detectors are presented. Also, a theoretical review of the different methods of identification of heavy charged particles and the characteristic of each method and the parameters affecting of each method are inspected.