Detection efficiency of time-of-flight energy elastic recoil detection analysis systems

The detection efficiency of recoils with masses ranging from H up to Nb at energies from 0.05 to 1 MeV per nucleon has been investigated for Time-of-F light Energy Elastic Recoil Detection (ToF-E ERD) systems. It is observed t hat the detection efficiency for the ToF-E detector telescope depends on th e stopping power in the carbon foils, which in turn relies upon the recoil mass and energy. Furthermore, the limits of this behaviour depend on the se tting of the discriminator thresholds. The detection efficiency of a time d etector could be fitted to a universal curve that can be described by a sim ple empirical formula as a function of recoil electronic stopping power in the carbon foil. This formula can be used to predict the detection efficien cy by recoil energy for N, O and other elements, for which it may not be ea sy to prepare suitable reference samples containing only that element. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.