Charged particle identification using CR-39(DOP) detectors

Abstract

The CR-39(DOP) track detectors can be used to study the complete energy spectrum of particles with Z ⩾ 10. The CR-39 track detectors, which are sensitive mainly to low energy transfers, are expected to provide better charge resolution. However, we show here that it is not the case. The experimental value and the theoretical estimate of the charge resolution are very different. For the first time, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the error in the track etch rate ratio (detector signal) and for the charge resolution. We have used very different methods such as the deconvolution of cosmic ray spectrum and the variance of the calibration fits to arrive at the same conclusions about the detector charge resolution, which shows the validity of this approach. This study shows that experimental error is the major contributor to the charge resolution. This conclusion is also supported by our theoretical calculation of the charge resolution based on the first-order approximation in the scattering theory. We have used track data from the Spacelab-3 Anuradha exposure to study the effects of space exposure on the charge resolution. The charge resolution was deteriorated for space exposure. It is also shown here that the temperature and the pressure during exposure are important parameters for improving the charge resolution in addition to the measurement errors.