Abstract
There is a great interest in the study of p-11B aneutronic nuclear fusion reactions, both for energy production and for determination of fusion cross-sections at low energies. In this context we performed experiments at CELIA in which energetic protons, accelerated by the laser ECLIPSE, were directed toward a solid Boron target. Because of the small cross-sections at these energies the number of expected reactions is low. CR39 Solid-State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTD) were used to detect the alpha particles produced. Because of the low expected yield, it is difficult to discriminate the tracks due to true fusion products from those due to natural background in the CR39. To this purpose we developed a methodology of particle recognition according to their direction with respect to the detector normal, able to determine the position of their source. We applied this to the specific experiment geometry, so to select from all the tracks those due to particles coming from the region of interaction between accelerated protons and solid boron target. This technique can be of great help on the analysis of SSNTD in experiments with low yield reactions, but can be also generally applied to any experiment where particles reach the track detector with known directions, and for example to improve the detection limit of particle spectrometers using CR39.
Highlights
Solid-State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTD) are samples of solid materials where exposition to ionizing radiation generates tracks due to local damaging of the detector [1]
Because of the low expected yield, it is difficult to discriminate the tracks due to true fusion products from those due to natural background in the CR39.To this purpose we developed a methodology of particle recognition according to their direction with respect to the detector normal, able to determine the position of their source
We applied this to the specific experiment geometry, so to select from all the tracks those due to particles coming from the region of interaction between accelerated protons and solid boron target. This technique can be of great help on the analysis of SSNTD in experiments with low yield reactions, but can be generally applied to any experiment where particles reach the track detector with known directions, and for example to improve the detection limit of particle spectrometers using CR39
Summary
Solid-State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTD) are samples of solid materials where exposition to ionizing radiation generates tracks due to local damaging of the detector [1] In polymeric materials, such as CR39, tracks are caused by the breaking of the long polymer chains. Circular pits are generated if the particles enter the surface at normal incidence, otherwise elliptical pits are generated, where ellipticity and orientation of the pit mouth are related to the direction of incidence These detectors are widely used in different fields and are fundamental in environments heavily affected by electromagnetic radiation of high intensity, where active electronic detectors will be not applicable [2,3,4]. One of the main problems in this context is the discrimination of a very small number of fusion products with respect to the background
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