Simulation of processes in a SSNTD exposed by monoenergetic neutrons Original Research Article

The nuclear track technique is based on the registering of latent track ions in a solid state dielectric material (Solid State Nuclear Track Detector) which will be chemically etched in order to be observed and analysed using microscopic analysis tools. The purpose of this study is to observe how a polymeric detector irradiated by a neutron fluence can explain the intensity of ionizing radiations to which structures, electronic components or living organism are exposed. To do this, it is necessary to take into account on the one hand the production of ionizing particles in the detector, and on the other hand the efficacy of their detection. The model we propose must be able to link the number of etched tracks and their parameters to the neutron fluence. The use of both a Monte Carlo code which determines the number of recoil nuclei and a computed model of etched track parameters calculations is needed. The Monte Carlo code performs a simulation of neutron-nucleus elastic collision in the detector. We compute the number of recoil nuclei produced between the surface and a depth of 20 μm in the detector. The computer code assigns six pseudo-random numbers (xE, zE, a, b, c, α) to each neutron having an energy EN and an angle of incidence and give the results of calculations. We used statistical tests (the moments of the origin of order n and of the average of order n, the χ2 test, the gap test, the Pearson test, the run-up run-down test and the serial test) to check the quality of our pseudo-random number generator. Finally, we will compare the calculated results of the response of the SSNTD (tracks cm−2) with the experimental ones to validate the simulation.