New calibrations of CR39 and Makrofol nuclear track detectors have been obtained using 158 A GeV Pb (82+) and In (49+) ions; a new method for the bulk etch rate determination, using both cone height and base diameter measurements was developed. The CR39 charge resolution based on the etch-pit base area measurement is adequate to identify nuclear fragments in the interval 7 <= Z/beta <= 49. For CR39 the detection threshold is at REL~50 MeV cm^2/g, corresponding to a nuclear fragment with Z/beta~7. Base cone area distributions for Makrofol foils exposed to Pb (82+) ions have shown for the first time all peaks due to nuclear fragments with Z > 50; the distribution of the etched cone heights shows well separated individual peaks for Z/beta = 78 - 83 (charge pickup). The Makrofol detection threshold is at REL 2700 MeV cm^2/g, corresponding to a nuclear fragment with Z/beta~50.
@article{arxiv.physics/0610227,
title = {Bulk Etch Rate Measurements and Calibrations of Plastic Nuclear Track Detectors},
author = {S. Balestra and M. Cozzi and G. Giacomelli and R. Giacomelli and M. Giorgini and A. Kumar and G. Mandrioli and S. Manzoor and A. R. Margiotta and E. Medinaceli and L. Patrizii and V. Popa and I. E. Qureshi and M. A. Rana and G. Sirri and M. Spurio and V. Togo and C. Valieri},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0610227},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
11 pages, 5 EPS figures. Submitted to Nucl. Instr. Meth. B