Statistics of bubble formation in bubble dosemeters

Bubble dosemeters contain a large number of microscopic droplets of superheated liquid suspended in a gel. Individual particles of an incident flux, such as neutrons, can deposit enough energy to produce a critical size vapour bubble, which leads to vaporisation of an entire droplet. Absorption of an incident microwave field can raise the droplet temperature high enough to produce homogeneous nucleation at an observable rate. Both such triggering mechanisms are inherently stochastic. One can obtain expressions for the statistical distribution of the number of bubbles formed upon exposure to a constant external source for a specific time period. The response to a microwave field (a thermal effect) is compared with that of a flux of particles such as neutrons. The temperature dependence is of particular interest. (Author)