Identification of heavy ions by imaging individual particle tracks in CF₄-filled gas scintillation detectors

We propose a novel method for identification of heavy charged particles, based on the principle that the distance between the Bragg peak position and the terminal position (D_pt) of an energetic ion track varies with the specie of the heavy charged particle. Online measurements can be achieved by imaging individual particle tracks in CF₄-filled gas scintillation detectors using a real-time scientific camera. By calculating the integration of the image intensity along the recorded track, experimental Bragg curves can be obtained and then D_pt values can be extracted promptly. Proof-of-principle experiments have been performed with 6.30 MeV ¹H, 5.49 MeV ⁴He, and 46.50 MeV ⁷Li ions. A number of clear individual ion tracks were imaged and analyzed, with the satisfactory results that both the type and energy of each ions were identified precisely, demonstrating good identification capability of the proposed method. Therefore, this study is of particularly importance not only in methodology but also in practical for online identification of heavy charged particles in many fields such as space radiation detection and nuclear reaction diagnostic experiments.