The electron spin resonance of polycarbonate track detectors

Polycarbonate films are widely used as solid state track detectors (SSTDs) of radiation, but as yet our knowledge of the microscopic nature of the latent track is limited. The processes of chemical etching and thermal annealing are not fully understood. The lack of stability of track parameters bears on the accuracy of the charge determination of energetic heavy nuclei.

We have applied the technique of electron spin resonance, (ESR) in order to seek a correlation between the density of tracks and the growth and decay of free radicals detected by ESR. Samples of polycarbonate were irradiated with thermal neutrons and then etched progressively with NaOH. The ESR signal increased initially and then became weaker as the bulk of the polycarbonate was removed. Other samples were annealed after partial etching. ESR monitoring of this annealing showed that free radicals were recombining, probably due to diffusion processes.