Determination of LET in PADC detectors through the measurement of track parameters

SSNTDs (solid-state nuclear track detectors), primarily made from PADC (poly(allyl diglycol carbonate)), are attractive detectors for dosimetric purposes. SSNTDs are more similar to human tissue than other passive detectors and the measurement of the track parameters provides information about the energy deposition of the incident particle. This paper describes a method for LET measurement based on the measurements of the major and minor axes of the track opening. The method was experimentally tested using alpha particles with energies ranging from 4.2 MeV to 6 MeV. The experimental results show that PADC can measure the total energy lost by a particle along a path of length Δx divided by the length itself, a quantity strictly related to the LET.