Characterizations of new ΔE detectors for single-ion hit facility

•The characteristics of new ΔE detectors for tracking the protons were reported.•The tested detectors have been shown very low noise and good energy resolution.•The new devices have proved a high hit detecting efficiency for MeV protons.

This paper describes the performance evaluation of new ΔE detectors to be used as pre-cell hit detectors in living cell irradiation experiments at the Lund Ion Beam Analysis facility (LIBAF). Using these detectors with a thickness down to 4.15 μm fabricated at Lund University, an experiment was setup in which ΔE-detectors were used together with a stop E-detector in a telescope system under coincidence measurements. The characteristics of ΔE detectors were based on the optimal detection of the passage of 2.55 MeV protons. The results of these tests demonstrate that the detector telescope clearly separates the protons, this due to high signal-to-noise ratio and good energy resolution of the ΔE-detectors. The best performing detector was shown to have a detection efficiency of 95% at thickness of 9.7 μm. This type of high-performing detector is suitable for the planned role of the ΔE-detector in the future cell irradiation experiments.