Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 103 (1995) 94-98

Beam Interactions
with Materials & Atoms
ELSEVIER

Construction of a charged particle irradiation chamber for the use

with plastic detectors
M.M. E1-Hawary, A. Hussein ~, A. E1-Rahmany, A.A. Ammar, A.R. E1-Sersy
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Monoufia University, Shebin El-koam, Egypt
Received 9 January 1995; revised form received 6 April 1995

Abstract
A simple sensitive charged particle irradiation chamber was designed and constructed in our laboratory. A circular
rotating table with six detector holders, is contained in the chamber. The rotation is controlled electronically via a stepper
motor with a precision of 1.8°. The beam-to-detector direction is changeable with an angle less than 5°. An alpha source is
allowed to move vertically using another stepper motor. The source-to-detecior distance is determined with an accuracy
better than 1.0 mm. An energy monitoring system, composed of a silicon surface barrier detector and a signal electronic
system attached to a PC is used for energy calibration. Chamber characterization and its application in nuclear track
registration are studied under different conditions. The energy resolution of CR-39 plastic detector has been obtained at
various alpha energies and etching durations. Results showed that good detector resolution could be achieved at high etching
duration.

1. Introduction order to make such measurements more accurate, particle

An increasing number of papers have dealt with the use
of solid state materials [1-4] in radiation measurements.
The induced effects in such materials are the principle tool
for such investigations. These effects are strongly depen-
dent on the internal structure of the absorber (such as
glasses, polymers and crystals) as well as on the kind and
energy of the incident radiation (such as gamma, neutrons,
and charged particles).
Different techniques of radiation measurements [5-9]
have been employed and the track development in plastic
foils has been widely applicable in the field of radiation
dosimetry. Plastic detectors attain many advantages over
the others; they have been successively used in heavy
charged particle identification and detection with a wide
range of energies. They have been used [10-14] in person-
nel neutron dosimetry, radon level determination, uranium
and thorium estimation in rocks, water and plants, etc.
The interaction of charged particles with plastic detec-
tors results in track formation inside the materials. Several
investigators [15-17] have paid considerable importance to
the study of track parameters such as etching speeds,
profiles and track range. This would lead to a precise
determination of particle identification and detection. In
energy and incident angle should be precisely determined.
The aim of the present work is to design and construct
an irradiation chamber to be used in a variety of dosimetric
applications. It is designed in such a way that projectile
energy and incident angle are precisely controlled and
accurately measured.
2. Experimental
Plastic sheets of CR-39 polycarbonate 500 ~m each
thick (TAS-TRACK, supplied by Bristol U.K.) were used.
For alpha irradiation facility an 241Am thin source was
used. All plastic foils were etched chemically in 6.25 N
NaOH at 70°C. The bulk etch rate, VB, was measured
using the mass decrement method [15]. Track diameters
were measured using an optical Olympus microscope at-
tached to an eye piece micrometer with each division equal
to 0.22 ~xm.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Construction of the irradiation chamber

The design of the irradiation chamber depends on the

purpose of its use. Our field of interest is specialized with
* Corresponding author. radiation dosimetry studies using track-storing materials.

0168-583X/95/$09.50 © 1995 EIsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

SSDI 0168-583X(95)00565-X
 M.M. El-Hawary et al./ Nucl. Instr, and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 103 (1995) 94-98
So, the chamber was really designed to cover all our needs
as well as to be used in future plans of studies.
Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the designed
irradiation chamber. It is essentially a stainless steel bell
jar of diameter and height 30 and 40 cm, respectively. This
jar is tightly mounted on a 50 × 50 cm square base, made
of 2.5 cm thick plexiglas, through an O-ring in order to
assure good vacuum inside the chamber. On one side of
the jar there is a window (W) which can be used as a view
to observe what is going in just before irradiation starts.
Inside the chamber there is a circular rotating table (T) of
diameter 15 cm made of bakelite fibre materials and
supported to the chamber base through a metal rod. It is
allowed to rotate electronically using an underneath pully
connected to a stepper motor (M1) through rubber belt (see
Fig. 1). M1 is connected to a drive so that speed and
direction of rotation can precisely be controlled from
outside. The stepper motor drive circuit was also designed
using IC-SAA 1027. There are five plastic detector holders
(H) and a sixth one (D) is used for the surface barrier
detector. All holders are mounted on the table (T) and
simultaneously rotate with it. Each holder (H) is attached
to an angle scale with a precision better than 2°, so one can
precisely determine the beam incident angle. Fig. 2a shows
ml
Fig. 1. Block diagram of the constructed irradiation chamber.
95
a schematic diagram of one of the plastic detector holders
(H). The surface barrier detector is connected to a radiation
analyzer system compacted to a PC multichannel computer
for energy monitoring and calibration.
At the upper part of the chamber there is a source
holder (SH) (see Fig. 1) which is attached to a bakelite
fibre roof. Fig. 2b shows the holder (SH) in more explicit
way. The SH holder easily moves up and down using a
second stepper motor (M2) and consequently be controlled
from outside. An alpha source (S) is supported on the
lower end of the SH holder so the source is facing the
table (T). The source-to-detector distance can be deter-
mined with an accuracy better than 1.0 mm. There is a
magnetic shutter (MS), attached to the axial metallic rod,
which was constructed in order to accurately control the
irradiation duration. The chamber is connected to a two-
stage rotary pump (P) and the vacuum is monitored and
controlled using a needle valve and a digital pirany gauge
(G). Through the chamber base there are four cables
labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4 which are connected to the surface
barrier detector, motor (M1), motor (M2) and the magnetic
shutter (MS), respectively. In this way, the movement of
everything inside the chamber is now electronically con-
trolled from outside.
~,\\\\\\\\\'~
96 M.M. El-Hawary et aI. / NucI. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 103 (1995) 94-98

3
),
o

(b

Pro=~=;uro t Tort ]

Fig. 3. Variation of alpha particle energy (E) with pressure (P) at

different source-to-detector distances, D, where curves a, b, c, d, e
and f represent D equals 11, 10, 8, 7, 6 and 5 em respectively.

" I I I 4 ],4,T
Fig. 2. A design of the detector holder, H, (a) and source holder,
SH, (b).

3.2. Particle energy measurement

In order to facilitate the irradiation procedure, an en-

ergy calibration curve should first be determined. The
energy calibration was performed using an alpha spectrom-
eter model TC 256 and a TC pulser compacted to a 4k
multichannel analyzer and PC computer. Then the irradia-
tion chamber was evacuated to the various values of
pressure and source-to-detector distance was varied from 5
to 11 cm. The table (T) (see Fig. 1) was aligned at a
position where the surface barrier detector was facing the
alpha source.
Fig. 3 shows a group of curves which represent the
relation between alpha energy, E, and the pressure inside
the chamber (P). It is obvious from this figure that E I I 1 I I I I

shows a decrease with increasing P at all the studied S 8 10 12

distances, d, between the source and the detector. An
D|=~,~Ln¢O [ Cm ]
empirical relationship of the form
Fig. 4. Variation of alpha panicle energy (E) with distance (D) at
E =E o +AP +BP 2 different pressure values.
 M.M. El-Hawary et al. / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 103 (1995) 94-98 97

diameter were then obtained at various etching durations

of 4, 6, 8 and 10 h using an optical microscope.
The dependence of the track diameter, dr, on alpha
7-
energies (E) was extensively studied under various condi-
+
tions, where d r showed an increase with either decreasing
E from 5.0 to 2.0 MeV or increasing the etching duration
! from 4 to 10 h. The resolution of CR-39 detectors has been
determined at alpha energies between 2.0 and 5.0 MeV
and etching duration from 4.0 to 10.0 h. The observed full
width at half maximum, hdT, due to the diameter forma-
tion statistics within the detector, has been calculated at
each alpha energy and etching duration. From each A d T
value the corresponding energy spread, AE, was obtained
from the d r - E relationship. The energy resolution, R, was
given by the relation
zXE
R = - - × 100%.
E
R was obtained at each value of energy and etching
time. Fig. 5 shows the relation between the energy resolu-
tion, R, of CR-39 plastic detectors as a function of alpha
I I I I I I I I

En~r~ I Me¥ 1

Fig. 5. Dependence of the resolution (R) on alpha energy (E) at

different etching times (te).

was found to fit the data of Fig. 3 quite well with a

correlation coefficient of the order of 99%, where E 0 is
the initial alpha energy, A and B are fitting parameters
depending on the d-value; they are given by:
A = ( 1 . 6 9 - 1.26d) × 10 -~ and
B = - [0.75 + 0.2d(1 + d)] × 10 -6.
E, d and P given in MeV, cm, and Torr, respectively.
Fig. 4 shows the variation of alpha energy, E, with d at
various values of P, where E shows a decrease with
increasing d. Therefore, for energy determination, with the
aid of the calibration curve given in Fig. 3, one has to
make precise adjustment of both the pressure value and the
distance d which leads to the desired value of energy.

3.3. Energy resolution of plastic detectors

The energy resolution of any detector is an essential

test before its usage in radiation measurements. In this
part, the detector energy resolution has been determined
via the track diameter measurements. Sheets of 500 g.m
thick CR-39 plastic samples were pre-chemically etched
for 10 h in 6.25 N NaOH for background reduction.
Samples were then exposed to different alpha energies
from 2.0 to 5.0 MeV in steps of 0.5 MeV using our
constructed irradiation chamber. Measurements of track
Fig. 6. Photomicrographs of alpha tracks in 500 Izm thick CR-39
exposed to different energies and etched at different etching times
in 6.25 N NaOH at 70°C where (a) and (b) represent a 4 MeV
alpha track etched for 4 and 6 h, respectively. (c), (d) and (e)
represent 2, 3.5, 4.5 MeV alpha tracks, respectively etched for 10
h.
98 M.M. El-Hawary et aL / NucL Instr. and Meth, in Phys. Res. B I03 (1995) 94-98
1 4. Conclusion
| The present constructed irradiation chamber operates
a ing conditions and a value of 1.0% is obtained under
1 be successfully used in many dosimetric applications using
~4
Fig. 6 (continued).
energy and etching duration. It is clear from this figure that
R is strongly dependent on both energy and etching time;
where R shows an improvement as the energy or etching
duration increases. A resolution of about 1.0% was ob-
tained at an alpha energy of 5.0 MeV and etching duration
from 8 to 10 h. Fig. 5 shows some photomicrographs of
alpha tracks formed in CR-39 plastic detector exposed to
different energies and etched in 6.25 N NaOH at 70°C for
various etching durations using our constructed irradiation
chamber. The importance of these photographs lies in
some features such as: almost diminished background,
obvious track contrast and overall tracks of different ener-
gies are easily distinguished through their diameter mea-
surements with high degree of accuracy.
quite well where alpha energies are now being precisely
determined via a fine adjustment of pressure and source-
to-detector distance. An empirical energy-pressure rela-
tionship is obtained and applicable within a wide range of
energies with a correlation coefficient of about 99%. Five
plastic detectors of different orientations to the beam direc-
tion can be adjusted in the chamber at once. The energy
resolution is seriously affected by alpha energy and etch-
optimal conditions. Finally we can say that our system can
the plastic track detectors with high reliability output.
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