Energy Losses and Ranges of Low Energy Heavy Charged Particles in Plastic Nuclear Track Detectors

Abstract

A method for the calculation of the energy losses of heavy charged particles in a low energy region (<1 MeV/nucleon) for the plastic nuclear track detectors is described. The method is based on the fundamental relation (dE/dx)ion=(Zeff/γp)2(dE/dx)proton (Zeff and γp are the effective charges of heavy ion and proton, respectively). Firstly, the stopping power of a given plastic detector for the proton is obtained from the atomic stopping powers of the individual constituent elements for the proton, which are derived from the existing data for other organic compounds in solid state, assuming the Bragg's additivity rule. Then, the energy loss rates of heavy ions in the plastic detectors have been calculated from the above relation, using the formulas for the effective charges. The range-energy relations, obtained by this method, for fission fragments in polycarbonate resin and cellulose triacetate are in good agreement with the experimental results.