CHARGE-EXCHANGE SIGNATURE IN ION TRACKS

Chemically etched ion tracks in solid state nuclear detectors are stud ied in detail searching for a correlation between track profile inhomo geneities - breaks - and ion charge change events. Beams of 36 MeV car bon ions in charge states 3+ to 6+ bombarded 300 mum thick Macrofol-E foils. Etched track replicas were obtained and analyzed with an electr on microscope. Microphotographed profiles were fitted with a mathemati cal model able to follow fast slope changes in track profiles. Lengths related to profile breaks were extracted and considered as mean free paths for charge exchange. These results compare favourably with publi shed cross section values.