SSNTD EXPERIMENT

INTRODUCTION
RADIATION AND RADIATION DETECTORS A stream of particles, such as electrons, neutrons, protons, alpha particles or high energy photons or mixture of these is called radiation. Different instruments used to detect these radiations and study their properties are called radiation detectors. General principle of all radiation detectors is the same. The radiations deposit their energy in a certain medium and generate either measurable current or voltage pulse, or a trace which may be visible by naked eye or with the aid of a microscope. The design of a radiation detector thus depends on the interaction of radiation with matter. The two types of radiation detectors are: (a) Dynamic detectors: These detectors detect radiations by responding in the form of signals and are used to study the temporal behaviour of the radiation emission and their energy analysis. Examples of dynamic detectors are Geiger Muller tube, surface barrier detectors, photomultiplier tube along with a scintillator etc. (b) Static detectors: These detectors detect radiations by providing a permanent record, which depends upon the ionization produced in the material of the detectors. Examples of static detectors are photographic films and solid state nuclear track detectors. SOLID STATE NUCLEAR TRACK DETECTOR (SSNTD) A solid state nuclear track detector or SSNTD (also known as an etched track detector or a dielectric track detector, DTD) is a sample of a solid material (photographic emulsion, crystal, glass or plastic) exposed to nuclear radiation (neutrons or charged particles, occasionally also gamma rays), chemically etched, and examined microscopically. The basic principle in SSNTD is that a massive charged particle passing through an electrical insulator, produces a narrow region of radiation damaged material, known as latent damage trail or simply as track. Since the tracks are very thin (thickness of a few hundred Angstroms), an optical microscope cannot be used for their analysis. An etching process is used to produce a modified enlarged version of the original damaged trial, which then can be seen easily under an ordinary optical microscope. The size and shape of the tracks of nuclear particles yield information about the mass, charge, energy and direction of motion of the particles. The main advantages over other radiation detectors are the detailed informa tion available on individual particles, the presistence of the tracks allowing measurements to be made over long periods of time, and the simple, cheap and robust construction of

the detector. SSNTDs are commonly used to study cosmic rays, long-lived radioactive elements, radon concentration in houses, and the age of geological samples. A material commonly used in SSNTDs is ployallyl diglycol carbonate (PADC), also known as Tastrak or CR-39. It is a clear, colorless and rigid plastic. Etching is usually performed in solutions of caustic alkalis such as sodium hydroxide, often at elevated temperatures for several hours.

EXPERIMENT
To determine the range of alpha particles in air and source strength of the 241 Am alpha source. Apparatus: Hot water bath, optical microscope, 6 normal solution of NaOH
241

Am alpha source, CR-39 film,

Procedure: A piece of CR-39 film is irradiated for 60 sec by placing 241Am alpha source at fixed normal distance of 2cm. The film is then etched by placing it in 6 normal solution of NaOH for 2.5 hours at 60C in a hot water bath. CR-39 film is then placed under an optical microscope and number of tracks per field of view are counted along the horizontal length of the strip (by 1mm interval). Graph is plotted between track density and position along the length of the strip. Range of alpha particles is determined from graph and source strength(activity) is found by 4 Z R2 Activity = At where A: Area of field of view R: Range of the alpha particles Z: Maximum value of number of tracks per unit field of view

Observations and calculations Irradiation parameters: Normal distance = L = 1cm Time = t = 60 sec Medium : Air Source : Am Etching parameters: Time = t etch = 2.5 hours Temperature = T = 60C

Length along the strip "x" (mm) 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Number of tracks 1 2 5 5 7 14 14 17 19 27 29 39 50 60 74 90 92

Length along the strip "x" (mm) 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49

Number of tracks 86 83 77 73 55 59 33 29 33 16 13 7 7 6 6 5 2

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

GRAPH BETWEEN LENGTH ALONG THE STRIP AND TRACK DENSITY

Number of tracks "N"

10

20 30 40 Length along the strip "x" (mm)

50

60

From graph: Distance between the points of maximum and minimum track density = D = 1.6cm Range of alpha particles = R = (D + L) 1/2 = 1.87cm Area of the field of view = A = 0.0004cm2 Number of tracks in area A = Z = 92 Activity of the alpha particles =Ac = 4ZR2/At = 168449 per sec (SSNTD Experiment Lab Report by: Arooj Mukarram)