Impact of x-ray dose on the response of CR-39 nuclear track detector to 1-5.5 MeV alphas and 0.5-9.1 MeV protons for spectroscopy at the OMEGA Laser Facility and the National Ignition Facility

The CR-39 nuclear track detector is used in many nuclear diagnostics fielded at inertial confinement fusion (ICF) facilities. Large x-ray fluences generated by ICF experiments may impact the CR-39 response to incident charged particles. To determine the impact of x-ray exposure on the CR-39 response to protons and alpha particles, a thick-target bremsstrahlung x-ray generator was used to expose CR-39 to various doses of 30 and 8keV Cu-K[alpha] and K[beta] x-rays. The CR-39 detectors were then exposed to 1-5.5 MeV alphas or 0.5- 9.1 MeV protons. The regions of the CR-39 exposed to x-rays showed a smaller track diameter than those not exposed to x-rays: for example, a dose of 3.0±0.1 Gy causes a decrease of (19±2)% in the track diameter of a 5.5 MeV alpha, while a dose of 6.0±0.1 Gy results in a decrease of (29±1)% in the track diameter of a 3.0 MeV proton. The reduced track diameters were found to be predominantly caused by a comparable reduction in the bulk etch rate of the CR-39 with x-ray dose. A residual effect, due to changes in track etch rate and dependent on incident particle energy, was characterized by an empirical formula.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Rojas, Jimmy A. (Rojas Herrera)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Richard Petrasso.

• Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106770

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/106770