Author(s)

Mukhtar Ahmed Rana, Gul Sher, Shahid Manzoor, Fariha Malik, Kanwal Naz

Informatics Complex, H-8, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Isotope Applications Division, PINSTECH, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Materials Division, Directorate of Technology, PINSTECH, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Physics Department, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Islamabad Campus, Islamabad, Pakistan.
The Pakistan Strategist Company, An SPD Project, PINSTECH-Admin Blk., Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH), Islamabad, Pakistan;Physics Department, University of Balauchistan, Quetta, Pakistan;National Tokamak Plasma and Fusion Project, NILOP, PAEC, Islamabad, Pakistan.

The potential of the high resolution nuclear track detector (NTD) CR-39 is examined carefully for the measurement of relativistic nuclear projectile fragmentation cross sections and studies of related processes using the experience of many years of such measurements. The charge resolution and the charge resolving power of CR-39 detectors for the measurements of 158 A GeV ²⁰⁷Pb projectiles and their fragments are presented. Exposures of target-detector stacks, the chemical etching procedure and the nuclear track measurements are described in detail discussing precautions and possible errors. The procedures discussed are also valid for other NTDs. A comparison with electronic active detectors is also made considering important detection and measurement aspects. An experimental design proposing the co-use of NTDs with in-use active detectors is described.

Nuclear Track Detection Methodology (NTDM); CR-39 Detectors; Nuclear Fragmentation; Charge Resolution; Fragmentation Cross Sections

M. Rana, G. Sher, S. Manzoor, F. Malik and K. Naz, "Nuclear Track Detectors for Relativistic Nuclear Fragmentation Studies: Comparison with Other Competitive Techniques," Modern Instrumentation, Vol. 2 No. 3, 2013, pp. 49-59. doi: 10.4236/mi.2013.23008.