On improvement of charge resolution of cosmic ray particles using a cellulose nitrate plastic detector

Abstract

By employing improved procedures of measurement and analysis we have been able to obtain good charge resolution for stopping cosmic ray nuclei with Z⩽30 in a cellulose nitrate detector. In a particular, it has been found that ( V t V b ) provides a much more reliable measure of ionisation loss than cone length. A charge resolution of 0.2 charge units for nuclei with Z≲20 and of 0.3 charge units for nuclei with Z > 20 has been achieved in the present experiment.