Relative response of various solid state nuclear track detectors for measuring fast neutron fluence

Abstract

Abstract Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors which are extensively applied for the detection of charged particles can also be very useful for the detection of thermal and fast neutrons. In this connection the detectors can be used either in internal or external irradiator mode. In the present work we have used several solid state Nuclear Track Detectors for measuring the fast neutron fluence, both in the case of a bare plastic or a plastic coated with a thin layer of uranium. The fast neutrons (∼ 14 MeV) were produced with the help of an AN-400 Model Van de Graaff accelerator at our laboratory using 3H(2H, n)4He reaction and were used to irradiate the plastic detectors. After chemical etching of the plastics the tracks were counted under an optical microscope. The variation of the track density for various neutron fluences in different plastic track detectors used in the present work has been found to be linear.