Theoretical feasibility study on neutron spectrometry with the polyallyldiglycol carbonate (PADC) solid-state nuclear track detector

Neutron spectrometry with the polyallyldiglycol carbonate (PADC) film detector was analyzed in detail. The computer codes TRACK_TEST and TRACK_VISION, which were originally developed for studies on alpha-particle tracks, were modified to compute parameters of etched proton tracks developed in the PADC film detector and to simulate their appearance under an optical microscope in the transmission mode. It was shown that protons with same energy and recoil angle could produce different etched tracks with various size and shape, depending on the point of their creation. As such, it was necessary to employ multiple etching, and to measure the removed layer thickness and to record the track appearance after each etching step. A new variable, namely, the effective removed layer heff, was introduced as the difference between the total removed layer and the depth where the proton was created in the detector. A program modified from the TRACK_VISION code was used to plot the appearance of a number of representative etched proton tracks. For proton energies larger than 2 MeV, the V function for protons in PADC was found to be almost constant, so the simple formulas for major and minor axes of proton track openings could be used to determine the proton energy, recoiled angle as well as the energy of the neutron which caused the proton recoil. For lower proton energies, a databank of various proton tracks showing the track opening appearances and the track profiles should be created for comparison to facilitate the determination of the proton energy.