Stopping power of polymers for heavy ions: a comparative study

A comparative study of various stopping power tables and codes for heavy ions in polymers has been made by comparing the computed stopping power values with the corresponding experimental values. The energy loss of different heavy ions (3≤Z ₁≤29) in the energy domain of ～0.19–3.14 MeV/n has been studied in six different polymers mostly used as particle track detectors viz: Mylar (Polyethylene Terephthalate), PEN (Polyethylene Napthalate), Polycarbonate, CR-39 (Polyallyl Diglycol Carbonate), Kapton (Polypyromellitimide) and LR-115 (Cellulose Nitrate). The merits and demerits of the adopted formulations are highlighted. It has been observed that the calculations based on SRIM2003.26 and tables of ICRU-73 provide best agreement with the experimental data for projectiles (3≤Z ₁≤29) and (3≤Z ₁≤18), respectively. The MSTAR3.12 code shows good results for projectiles (3≤Z ₁≤18), except in case of CR-39 for O, Na, and Al projectiles. The statistical analysis on the basis of combined error reveals that the SRIM2003 and ICRU-73 tables are more reliable as compared to the other programs taken in the present study, whereas CasP3.1 is least reliable program in lower energy domain.