Particle identification by measurement of track cone length as a function of the residual range of heavy ions in CR-39 and Lexan polycarbonate

The maximum etchable ranges of heavy ions such as 238U, 208Pb, 197Au, 132Xe and 93Nb in CR-39 and 238U, 197Au and 132Xe in Lexan polycarbonate have been determined. An attempt has been made to examine the suitability of the single-sheet particle identification technique in CR-39 and Lexan polycarbonate by plotting track cone length vs residual range for different heavy ions. A comparison has been made between experimental and theoretical values of ranges of different heavy ions in these detectors. A reasonably good agreement has been observed between the experimental and the theoretically computed values.