Characterization of a polymer as a heavy ion detector

Abstract

A particular brand of polymer, commonly used as overhead projector transparencies, has been used as a solid state nuclear track detector with Z/beta > 35. From the infra-red transmission spectrum by FTIR Spectrophotometer, the polymer was identified to be polyethylene terepthalate (PET). The charge response of this PET detector has been studied using 11.3 MeV/n U-238-ion and 11.4 MeV/n Ni-58-ions from GSI, Germany and 53.6 MeV O-16-ions from Nuclear Science Centre, India.