Analysis of 3-dimentional track parameters from 2-dimensional images of etched tracks in solid polymeric track detectors

An algorithm and a computer program (autoTRAK) are developed for rapid and precise estimation of track parameters in solid polymeric track detectors (SPTD). In this work, an effort is made to determine the 3-dimensional (3D) parameters such as depth (or length) and angle of the tracks, which are usually difficult to estimate from 2D images. The basic parameters such as diameter, major axis, minor axis, area, track density, etc. are also determined by the program precisely. The program is capable of selecting genuine tracks with precise tracing of track contours, segregating overlapped tracks and rejecting track-like unwanted objects. The algorithm is based on grey level analysis of the 2D images of etched nuclear tracks and is successfully tested for the analysis of alpha tracks in CR-39 detectors. The track depth values obtained by autoTRAK are found to match with those of other predictive codes. The details of the autoTRAK program and comparison of its output with those obtained using manual and automatic mode of other available image analyzing softwares, viz. ImageJ and AxioVision, are presented in the paper.