Study of 1020Ne ion tracks in a cellulose nitrate plastic track detector

Cellulose nitrate (Japan) plastic detectors have been irradiated with 1020Ne ions of energy 8.5 MeV/N and the tracks produced have been observed using the chemical etching technique. The bulk etch rate and track etch rate are determined for different temperatures ranging from 30 to 700C and hence the activation energies are determined. Experimental results show that the track registration sensitivity of CN(J) detector decreases towards higher etching temperatures. The maximum etched track length of 1020Ne ion in CN(J) is compared with the theoretically computed range. (author)