Calibration of CR-39 solid state track detectors with monoenergetic protons from 0.3 MeV to 2.5 MeV

Yangfan He,Jihong Wei,Shilun Guo,Fulong Liu,Di Wu,Xiaofei Lan,Guangfu Wang,Wansha Yang,Changye He,Xiaofeng Xi,Donghai Zhang,Menglin Qiu,Bing Guo,Luohuan Wang,Z Ge,H Zhang,Y Chen,W Wang,N Shu

doi:10.1051/epjconf/202023907006

Abstract

The2H(d,p)3H reaction is one of the most crucial reactions in the Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). It is of particular interest to investigate this kind of reactions in plasma environments, generated by high intensity lasers, which are similar to real astrophysical conditions. We have experimentally investigated the2H(d,p)3H reaction using laser-driven counter-streaming collisionless plasmas at the Shenguang-II laser facility. CR-39 track detectors are widely employed as the main diagnostics in such experiments and laser-driven ion acceleration. In this work, we performed calibration of CR-39 track detectors with monoenergetic protons from the tandem accelerator, and then presented their track diameters for proton energies ranging from 300 keV to 2.5 MeV and for etching times between 4 and 28 hours. In addition, we recommended the optimal etching time at the typical etching conditions, which will be very useful for the following massive data analysis from the CR-39 detectors.

Highlights

Nuclear fusions are the most crucial reactions in nuclear astrophysics because they are responsible for powering stars and for the synthesis of the elements in the universe [1, 2]
It is of particular interest to investigate this kind of reactions in plasma environments, generated by high intensity lasers, which are close to real astrophysical conditions
Two preliminary conclusions can be drawn from Fig. 3: (1) Long time etching will make the track of lowenergy protons shallow and difficult to measure accurately, the etching duration of the CR-39 detectors should not be too long; (2) The longer time of etching, the higher energy of the peak will move to for the curves of track diameter vs proton energy

Summary

Introduction

Nuclear fusions are the most crucial reactions in nuclear astrophysics because they are responsible for powering stars and for the synthesis of the elements in the universe [1, 2]. The 2H(d,p)3H fusion reaction plays a key role in the design of future fusion power plants and in the understanding of primordial abundances in Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) models [3] This reaction has been studied using accelerators for many decades (see [4] and references therein). We have performed experimental investigation of the 2H(d,p)3H reaction using laser-driven counterstreaming collisionless plasmas at the Shenguang-II laser facility at Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics of Chinese Academy of Sciences. In such a measurement, identification of reaction products and determination of their number have some difficulties, such as the electromagnetic pulse which can obstruct electronic devices. To date the calibration of CR-39 solid state detectors with proton beam has several methods such as Rutherford backscattering method [19, 20], nuclear reaction method [21], laser accelerated proton (TNSA acceleration mechanism) combined with mass spectrometer [22], beam irradiation [17, 23]

Methods

Results

Conclusion