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PM-355 polymeric solid state nuclear track detectors were studied. Samples were irradiated with alpha particles before and after exposure to sunlight under various seasonal conditions. Track formation and optical characteristics of chemically etched samples were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the dominant structure of the PM-355 detectors is of an amorphous nature with some degree of crystallinity. Micro strain, distortion density and distortion parameter were calculated from the XRD data, and indicate that the structure was modified after alpha irradiation and solar exposure. There was a tendency in the structure towards crystallinity. Some optical properties of PM-355 detectors were studied using Ultraviolet–Visible absorption spectroscopy. The absorption edge was detectable in all samples. The direct band gap decreased first and then subsequently increased again. The fluorescence spectra of alpha irradiated and solar exposed PM-355 polymer detectors after chemical etching showed three dominant peaks at wavelengths 327, 418 and 465 nm, respectively. The changes in the optical properties can be used to detect the effect of alpha and ultraviolet irradiations. The variation of the optical band gap, fluorescence spectra and/or track diameters can be used as a detection of nuclear radiation.

Pre- and postalpha-exposed PM-355 detectors were irradiated using UV laser with different number of pulses (100, 150, 200, 300, and 400). UV laser beam energy of 20mJ per pulse with a pulse width of 9ns was incident on an area of 19.6mm2 of the samples. XRD spectra indicated that for both reference and UV-irradiated samples, the structure is amorphous, but the crystallite size increases upon UV irradiation. The same results were obtained from SEM analysis. Optical properties of PM-355 polymeric solid-state nuclear track detectors were also investigated. Absorbance measurements for all PM-355 samples in the range of 200-400nm showed that the absorption edge had a blue shift up to a certain value, and then, it had an oscillating behavior. Photoluminescence spectra of PM-355 at 250nm revealed a decrease in the broadband peak intensity as a function of the number of UV pulses, while the wavelengths corresponding to the peaks had random shifts.