HOLLOW PARTICLE TRACKS IN AGCL-DETECTORS

In selected Cd-doped monocristalline silverchloride detectors we obser ve developed tracks from particles at LET values > 300 keV/mu m AgCl a nd charge state values > 9, without a visible central region: the ''ho llow track''. The microdensitometric, lateral profile shows a density decrease near the track axis, up to a radial extension of some microns from highly charged particles as Fe or U-ions of several MeV/u: the t racks of fast U- or Fe-projectiles, moreover, represent an entanglemen t of delta-electron tracks only. A recent reanalysis of this ''hollow track''-effect is suggested to be caused by recombination effects and structural distortions. They occure in areas of high delta-electron de nsity; together with the characteristic process of track formation in crystalline AgCl/Cd they enable us to vizualise and to measure the rad ial range of distortion and to evaluate the threshold of the energy de nsity above which the destruction occurs.