The simulation of the response of superheated emulsion to alpha particles

The response of superheated emulsion of liquid perfluorobutane (C4F10; b.p.: −1.7o C) to alpha particle has been studied by performing the simulation using GEANT3.21 toolkit. The simulations have been performed to generate two different experimental situations. In one case, the alpha contamination is present only in polymer and in another case, the alpha contamination is present both in polymer and active liquid. The value of the nucleation parameter, k, for bubble nucleation induced by alpha particle in superheated emulsion detector is determined by comparing the simulated normalized count rates with the available experimental results. The results show that the nucleation parameter for alpha particle in C4F10 liquid is about 0.19. The energy and position of alpha particle are not able to change the response of the alpha particle in C4F10 liquid. The recoiling nuclei associated with the alpha decay chain are responsible for making the detector sensitive at lower threshold temperatures.