Application of CR-39 Microfilm for Rapid Discrimination Between Alpha-Particle Sources

This work presents a new technique for discriminating between alpha particles of different energy levels. In a first study, two groups of alpha particles emitted from radium-226 and americium-241 sources were successfully separated using a CR-39 microfilm of appropriate thickness. This thickness was adjusted by chemical etching before and after irradiation so that lower-energy particles were stopped within the detector, while higher-energy particles were revealed on the back side of the detector. The number of tracks on the front side of the microfilm represented all alpha particles incident on that side from the two sources. However, the number of tracks on the back side of the microfilm represented only the long-range alpha particles of higher energy that arrived at that side. Therefore, by subtracting the number of tracks on the back side from the number of tracks on the front side, one could easily determine the number of tracks for the short-range alpha particles of lower energy that remained embedded in the microfilm. Discrimination of the two energy levels is thus achieved in a simple, fast, and reliable process.