LITHIUM FLUORIDE CRYSTALS AS FLUORESCENT NUCLEAR TRACK DETECTORS

Area of Science:

• Nuclear physics and materials science.
• Development of novel radiation detection technologies.

Background:

• Traditional nuclear track detectors often require chemical etching for visualization.
• Lithium fluoride (LiF) crystals exhibit radiophotoluminescence (RPL) properties.
• Previous research has explored LiF for dosimetry, but visualization of individual tracks was limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of visualizing single charged particle tracks in LiF crystals using RPL.
• To explore the potential of LiF as a fluorescent nuclear track detector (FNTD).
• To assess the suitability of LiF-based FNTDs for neutron dosimetry.

Main Methods:

• Utilized LiF single crystals grown via the Czochralski method.
• Employed a wide-field fluorescence microscope with a ×100 objective for imaging.
• Irradiated crystals with alpha particles, protons, and products of the 6Li(n,α)3H reaction from thermal neutrons.

Main Results:

• Successfully visualized the radiophotoluminescence signal of single charged particle tracks in LiF crystals.
• Observed tracks from alpha particles, protons, and neutron-induced reactions (6Li(n,α)3H).
• Demonstrated the potential for high-sensitivity track detection without etching.

Conclusions:

• LiF crystals exhibit sufficient radiophotoluminescence to detect individual charged particle tracks.
• This represents a significant advancement towards practical applications of LiF as fluorescent nuclear track detectors.
• Neutron measurements are identified as the most promising dosimetric application for this technology.